Common genetic variants and central adiposity among Asian-Indians

Steven C. Moore, Marc J. Gunter, Carrie R. Daniel, K. Srinath Reddy, Preeti S. George, Susan Yurgalevitch, Niveditha Devasenapathy, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, Nilanjan Chatterjee, Stephen J. Chanock, Sonja I. Berndt, Aleyamma Mathew, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Rashmi Sinha

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent studies have identified common genetic variants that are unequivocally associated with central adiposity, BMI, and/or fasting plasma glucose among individuals of European descent. Our objective was to evaluate these associations in a population of Asian-Indians. We examined 16 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from loci previously linked to waist circumference, BMI, or fasting glucose in 1,129 Asian-Indians from New Delhi and Trivandrum. Trained medical staff measured waist circumference, height, and weight. Fasting plasma glucose was measured from collected blood specimens. Genotype-phenotype associations were evaluated using linear regression, with adjustments for age, gender, religion, and study region. For gene-environment interaction tests, total physical activity (PA) during the past 7 days was assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The T allele at the FTO rs3751812 locus was associated with increased waist circumference (per allele effect of 1.58cm, P trend = 0.0015) after Bonferroni adjustment for multiple testing (P adj = 0.04). We also found a nominally statistically significant FTO-PA interaction (P interaction = 0.008). Among participants with 81 metabolic equivalent (MET)-h/wk of PA, the rs3751812 variant was associated with increased waist size (2.68cm; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.24, 4.12), but not among those with 212 MET-h/wk (1.79cm; 95% CI = 4.17, 0.58). No other variant had statistically significant associations, although statistical power was modest. In conclusion, we confirmed that an FTO variant associated with central adiposity in European populations is associated with central adiposity among Asian-Indians and corroborated prior reports indicating that high PA attenuates FTO-related genetic susceptibility to adiposity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1902-1908
Number of pages7
JournalObesity
Volume20
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
  • Endocrinology
  • Nutrition and Dietetics

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