Genetic associations with temporal shifts in obesity and severe obesity during the obesity epidemic in Norway: A longitudinal population-based cohort (the HUNT Study)

by Maria Brandkvist, Johan H åkon Bjørngaard, Rønnaug Astri Ødegård, Ben Brumpton, George Davey Smith, Bjørn Olav Åsvold, Erik R. Sund, Kirsti Kvaløy, Cristen J. Willer, Gunnhild Åberge Vie BackgroundObesity has tripled worldwide since 1975 as environments are becoming more obesogenic. Our study investigates how changes in population weight and obesity over time are associated with genetic predisposition in the context of an obesogenic environment over 6 decades and examines the robustness of the findings using sibling design. Methods and findingsA total of 67,110 individuals aged 13 –80 years in the Nord-Trøndelag region of Norway participated with repeated standardized body mass index (BMI) measurements from 1966 to 2019 and were genotyped in a longitudinal population-based health study, the Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT Study). Genotyping required survival to and parti cipation in the HUNT Study in the 1990s or 2000s. Linear mixed models with observations nested within individuals were used to model the association between a genome-wide polygenic score (GPS) for BMI and BMI, while generalized estimating equations were used for obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2).The increase in the average BMI and prevalence of obesity was steeper among the genetically predisposed. Among 35-year-old men, the prevalence of obesity for the least predisposed tenth increased from 0.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.6% to 1.2%) to 6.5% (95% CI 5.0% ...
Source: PLoS Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research