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Novel loci for childhood body mass index and shared heritability with adult cardiometabolic traits

  • Early Growth Genetics Consortium
  • Erasmus MC
  • Quantinuum Research LLC, San Diego, California, United States of America,
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Novo Nordisk Foundation
  • Division of Infection, Immunity and Respiratory Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  • University of Eastern Finland
  • Leipzig University
  • University of Groningen
  • Population Health Sciences, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • University of Bristol
  • University of Oulu
  • University of Oxford
  • RIKEN
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Barcelona Institute for Global Health
  • Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
  • Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, Barcelona, Spain
  • CIBER - Center for Biomedical Research Network
  • Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
  • School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia,
  • University of Turku
  • Statens Serum Institut
  • University of Valencia
  • Jaume I University
  • University of Gothenburg
  • Université de Lille
  • University of Queensland
  • Area de Salut de Menorca ib-salut, Menorca, Spain,
  • Fundació Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Illes Balears
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • University of Bergen
  • Norwegian Institute of Public Health
  • King's College London
  • Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale
  • University of Cambridge
  • McMaster University
  • University of Exeter
  • Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
  • University of the Basque Country
  • Biocrues-Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain,
  • Wellcome Sanger Institute
  • University of Western Australia
  • Sorbonne Université
  • Pere Virgili Health Research Institute
  • Imperial College London
  • University of Helsinki
  • National University of Singapore

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

The genetic background of childhood body mass index (BMI), and the extent to which the well-known associations of childhood BMI with adult diseases are explained by shared genetic factors, are largely unknown. We performed a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of BMI in 61,111 children aged between 2 and 10 years. Twenty-five independent loci reached genome-wide significance in the combined discovery and replication analyses. Two of these, located near NEDD4L and SLC45A3, have not previously been reported in relation to either childhood or adult BMI. Positive genetic correlations of childhood BMI with birth weight and adult BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, diastolic blood pressure and type 2 diabetes were detected (Rg ranging from 0.11 to 0.76, P-values <0.002). A negative genetic correlation of childhood BMI with age at menarche was observed. Our results suggest that the biological processes underlying childhood BMI largely, but not completely, overlap with those underlying adult BMI. The well-known observational associations of BMI in childhood with cardio-metabolic diseases in adulthood may reflect partial genetic overlap, but in light of previous evidence, it is also likely that they are explained through phenotypic continuity of BMI from childhood into adulthood.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1008718
JournalPLoS genetics
Volume16
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Oct 2020

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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