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The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The Influence of Age and Sex on Genetic Associations with Adult Body Size and Shape: A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Interaction Study

Thomas W Winkler, David A Bennett, Jeffrey C Murray, Anne E Justice, Mariaelisa Graff, Llilda Barata, Mary F Feitosa, Su Chu, Jacek Czajkowski, Tõnu Esko, …
PLoS genetics, Vol.11(10), pp.e1005378-42
10/2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005378
PMCID: PMC4591371
PMID: 26426971
url
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005378View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 100 genetic variants contributing to BMI, a measure of body size, or waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), a measure of body shape. Body size and shape change as people grow older and these changes differ substantially between men and women. To systematically screen for age- and/or sex-specific effects of genetic variants on BMI and WHRadjBMI, we performed meta-analyses of 114 studies (up to 320,485 individuals of European descent) with genome-wide chip and/or Metabochip data by the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium. Each study tested the association of up to ~2.8M SNPs with BMI and WHRadjBMI in four strata (men ≤50y, men >50y, women ≤50y, women >50y) and summary statistics were combined in stratum-specific meta-analyses. We then screened for variants that showed age-specific effects (G x AGE), sex-specific effects (G x SEX) or age-specific effects that differed between men and women (G x AGE x SEX). For BMI, we identified 15 loci (11 previously established for main effects, four novel) that showed significant (FDR<5%) age-specific effects, of which 11 had larger effects in younger (<50y) than in older adults (≥50y). No sex-dependent effects were identified for BMI. For WHRadjBMI, we identified 44 loci (27 previously established for main effects, 17 novel) with sex-specific effects, of which 28 showed larger effects in women than in men, five showed larger effects in men than in women, and 11 showed opposite effects between sexes. No age-dependent effects were identified for WHRadjBMI. This is the first genome-wide interaction meta-analysis to report convincing evidence of age-dependent genetic effects on BMI. In addition, we confirm the sex-specificity of genetic effects on WHRadjBMI. These results may provide further insights into the biology that underlies weight change with age or the sexually dimorphism of body shape.
Body Mass Index Genetic Predisposition to Disease Genome-Wide Association Study Age Factors Humans Middle Aged European Continental Ancestry Group Male Chromosome Mapping Sex Characteristics Adult Female Aged Body Size - genetics Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Waist-Hip Ratio

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