Height, social position and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

Silventoinen, Karri; Lahtinen, Hannu; Smith, George Davey; Morris, Tim; Martikainen, Pekka

doi:10.1136/jech-2022-219907

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Associations of body size and morphology with cardiometabolic health in children: the contribution of genetic factors

Silventoinen,

Maia,

Sund

et al. 2024

Obesity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveWe analyzed how anthropometric measures predict cardiometabolic health and how genetic and environmental factors contribute to these associations.MethodsData on 8 indicators of cardiometabolic health, 21 anthropometric measures, and 11 anthropometric indices were available for 216 twin pairs of individuals age 3 to 18 years living in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal (51% girls). Genetic twin modeling was used to estimate genetic and environmental correlations between the cardiometabolic and anthropometric indicators.ResultsAnthropometric indicators were positively associated with blood pressure and triglycerides and inversely associated with high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol. The associations with glucose, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and heart rate were close to zero. BMI and waist circumference showed similar or slightly higher absolute correlations with cardiometabolic health indicators compared with other anthropometric indices. Additive genetic and unique environmental correlations were at the same level as trait correlations.ConclusionsBMI and waist circumference provide information on cardiometabolic health that is not less accurate than that provided by more comprehensive anthropometric indices. These associations reflect causal associations between obesity and cardiometabolic disorders rather than only shared genetic associations. Measuring obesity is important for monitoring cardiometabolic risks and can be accomplished using simple indicators at the population level.

show abstract

Associations of body size and morphology with cardiometabolic health in children: the contribution of genetic factors

Silventoinen,

Maia,

Sund

et al. 2024

Obesity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Socio-economic differences in body mass index: the contribution of genetic factors

Silventoinen,

Lahtinen,

Kilpi

et al. 2024

Int J Obes

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Higher mean body mass index (BMI) among lower socioeconomic position (SEP) groups is well established in Western societies, but the influence of genetic factors on these differences is not well characterized. Methods We analyzed these associations using Finnish health surveys conducted between 1992 and 2017 (N = 33 523; 53% women) with information on measured weight and height, polygenic risk scores of BMI (PGS-BMI) and linked data from administrative registers to measure educational attainment, occupation-based social class and personal income. Results In linear regressions, largest adjusted BMI differences were found between basic and tertiary educated men (1.4 kg/m2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2; 1.6) and women (2.5 kg/m2, 95% CI 2.3; 2.8), and inverse BMI gradients were also found for social class and income. These SEP differences arose partly because mean PGS-BMI was higher and partly because PGS-BMI predicted BMI more strongly in lower SEP groups. The inverse SEP gradients of BMI were steeper in women than in men, but sex differences were not found in the genetic contributions to these differences. Conclusions Better understanding of the interplay between genes and environment provides insight into the mechanisms explaining SEP differences in BMI.

show abstract

Pitfalls in performing genome-wide association studies on ratio traits

McCaw,

Dey,

Somineni

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are often performed on ratios composed of a numerator trait divided by a denominator trait. Examples include body mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-hip ratio, among many others. Explicitly or implicitly, the goal of forming the ratio is typically to adjust the numerator for the denominator. While forming ratios may be clinically expedient, there are several important issues with performing GWAS on ratios. Forming a ratio does not “adjust” for the denominator in the sense of holding it constant, and it is unclear whether associations with ratios are attributable to the numerator, the denominator, or both. Here we demonstrate that associations arising in ratio GWAS can be entirely denominator-driven, implying that at least some associations uncovered by ratio GWAS may be due solely to a putative adjustment variable. In a survey of 10 exemplar ratios, we find that the ratio model disagrees with the adjusted model (performing GWAS on the numerator while conditioning on the denominator) at around 1/3 of loci. Using BMI as an example, we show that variants detected by only the ratio model are more strongly associated with the denominator (height), while variants detected by only the adjusted model are more strongly associated with the numerator (weight). Although the adjusted model provides effect sizes with a clearer interpretation, it is susceptible to collider bias. We propose and validate a simple method of correcting for the genetic collider bias via leave-one-chromosome-out polygenic scoring.

show abstract

Height, social position and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

Associations of body size and morphology with cardiometabolic health in children: the contribution of genetic factors

Associations of body size and morphology with cardiometabolic health in children: the contribution of genetic factors

Socio-economic differences in body mass index: the contribution of genetic factors

Pitfalls in performing genome-wide association studies on ratio traits

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About