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What is SLTR?

The Sri Lankan Twin Registry is a key initiative of the Institute for Research and Development in Health and Social Care (IRD). It serves as a valuable resource for scientific studies, enabling researchers to explore the genetic and environmental influences on health and disease. Established to support high-quality research, the registry plays a crucial role in advancing medical knowledge and improving public health in Sri Lanka and beyond.

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Twin Events

Twin Projects

Colombo Twin and Singleton Study – 3 – Pilot Study 2

  • Twin Research
  • Ongoing
Colombo Twin and Singleton Study – 3 Pilot Study – 2 is funded by the Medical Research Council, UK and is conducted by the Institute

Colombo Twin and Singleton Study -3

  • Twin Research
  • Ongoing
The Colombo Twin and Singleton Study 3 (COTASS-3) is funded by the Medical Research Council, UK under a Nutrition-based training grant, and is conducted by

Colombo Twin and Singleton Study – Development Project (CoTaSS 3)

  • Twin Research
  • Ongoing
Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) globally have undergone rapid urbanisation, and changes in demography and health behaviours. Whilst life expectancy at birth for many LMICs

CoTaSS 2 Follow-up study – IRD Bio-bank

  • Genetics, Twin Research
  • Completed
The Colombo Twin and Singleton Follow-up Study (CoTaSS2), which is a ‘population based twin study of psychiatric disorders and metabolic syndrome in Sri Lanka’ was

South Asian Early Development & Research Capacity Building Project

  • Twin Research
  • Completed
The Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom (MRC-UK) launched ‘Confidence in Global Mental Health Research: Institutional “pump-priming” awards to develop new opportunities in Global

The Sleep Sub-study

  • Twin Research
  • Completed
The Sleep sub-study was conducted within the Colombo Twin and Singleton Follow-up Study and determined the contribution of sleep and activity to the prevalence of

Colombo Twin and Singleton Follow-up Study

  • Twin Research
  • Completed
Strong evidence exists which suggests associations between cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. The Colombo Twin and Singleton Study follow-up Study (CoTaSS 2) seeks to explore

Colombo Twin and Singleton Study

  • Twin Research
  • Completed
A population-based twin register was established in the Colombo district of Sri Lanka using infrastructure designed to periodically update the electoral register. We invited a

Twin Publications

The Colombo Twin and Singleton Study (COTASS): Piloting the Feasibility of Collecting Nutritional Data and Extension of the Sample to Include Children of Twins

  • Food, Twin Research
  • Journal Article

Frequency of Consumption of Food Groups and Cardio-Metabolic Risk Factors: A Genetically Informative Twin Study in Sri Lanka

  • Food, Twin Research
  • Journal Article

All you Need is Trust? Public Perspectives on Consenting to Participate in Genomic Research in the Sri Lankan District of Colombo

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article

The relationship between independent and dependent life events and depression symptoms in Sri Lanka: a twin and singleton study

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
Life events have been associated with a variety of mental health conditions including depression. There is a scarcity of research in South Asia exploring the

The association between emotional eating and depressive symptoms: a population-based twin study in Sri Lanka

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
This study investigated the genetic and environmental contributions to emotional overeating (EOE) and depressive symptoms, and their covariation, in a Sri-Lankan population, using genetic model-fitting

Agreement between subjective and objective measures of sleep duration in a low-middle income country setting

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
Describe sleep duration in adult Sri Lankans and determine the bias and agreement of self-report and actigraphic assessments.

The Colombo Twin and Singleton Follow-up Study: a population based twin study of psychiatric disorders and metabolic syndrome in Sri Lanka

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
The disease burden related to mental disorders and metabolic syndrome is growing in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). The Colombo Twin and Singleton Study (COTASS) is

Education in Twins and Their Parents Across Birth Cohorts Over 100 years: An Individual-Level Pooled Analysis of 42-Twin Cohorts

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
Whether monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins differ from each other in a variety of phenotypes is important for genetic twin modeling and for inferences

Zygosity Differences in Height and Body Mass Index of Twins From Infancy to Old Age: A Study of the CODATwins Project

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
A trend toward greater body size in dizygotic (DZ) than in monozygotic (MZ) twins has been suggested by some but not all studies, and this

The CODATwins Project: The Cohort Description of Collaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins to Study Macro-Environmental Variation in Genetic and Environmental Effects on Anthropometric Traits

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article

International Network of Twin Registries (INTR): Building a Platform for International Collaboration

  • Twin Research
  • Journal Article
The International Network of Twin Registries (INTR) aims to foster scientific collaboration and promote twin research on a global scale by working to expand the

Trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychiatric disorders in a middle-income setting: prevalence and comorbidity

  • Common Mental Disorders, Twin Research
  • Journal Article
Most studies of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have focused on ‘high-risk’ populations defined by exposure to trauma.