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. 2014 Apr;9(2):e35-46.
doi: 10.1111/j.2047-6310.2013.00152.x. Epub 2013 Mar 25.

Moderate to vigorous physical activity interactions with genetic variants and body mass index in a large US ethnically diverse cohort

A S Richardson  1 , K E North, M Graff, K M Young, K L Mohlke, L A Lange, E M Lange, K M Harris, P Gordon-Larsen
Affiliations

Moderate to vigorous physical activity interactions with genetic variants and body mass index in a large US ethnically diverse cohort

A S Richardson et al. Pediatr Obes. 2014 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the interaction between genetic and behavioural factors during lifecycle risk periods for obesity and how associations vary across race/ethnicity.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine joint associations of adiposity-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with body mass index (BMI) in a diverse adolescent cohort.

Methods: Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 8113: Wave II 1996; ages 12-21, Wave III; ages 18-27), we assessed interactions of 41 well-established SNPs and MVPA with BMI-for-age Z-scores in European Americans (EA; n = 5077), African-Americans (AA; n = 1736) and Hispanic Americans (HA; n = 1300).

Results: Of 97 assessed, we found nominally significant SNP-MVPA interactions on BMI-for-age Z-score in EA at GNPDA2 and FTO and in HA at LZTR2/SEC16B. In EA, the estimated effect of the FTO risk allele on BMI-for-age Z-score was lower (β = -0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.08, 0.18) in individuals with ≥5 vs. <5 (β = 0.24; CI: 0.16, 0.32) bouts of MVPA per week (P for interaction 0.02). Race/ethnicity-pooled meta-analysis showed nominally significant interactions for SNPs at TFAP2B, POC5 and LYPLAL1.

Conclusions: High MVPA may attenuate underlying genetic risk for obesity during adolescence, a high-risk period for adult obesity.

Keywords: Adolescence; BMI; genetics; race/ethnicity.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

There were no potential or real conflicts of financial or personal interest with the financial sponsors of the scientific project.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Analysis Sample, derived from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimated effects1 for BMI-for-age Z score per one copy of risk allele in the 3 SNPs with nominally significant interactions2 by high versus low MVPA3 and across European American and Hispanic American subpopulations Abbreviation: MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, EA, European American, AA, African American, HA, Hispanic American 1 MVPA stratified model: Multi-level model of adolescent BMI-for-age Z score regressed on SNP, controlling for age, sex, current smoking (at least one cigarette every day for 30 days), screen time (hours of screen time from television, video, and computer games per week), region, an indicator for self-reported heights and weights where necessary. Additional race/ethnicity information was controlled for in the non-EA subpopulations: oversampling of highly educated African Americans (AA stratum only), Hispanic subpopulation ancestry, as well as an indicator for foreign born (HA stratum only). Separate random effects allowed for individual, family and school with no sample weighting. Models run separately for each SNP, by high and low MVPA and race/ethnicity. P values corrected for multiple testing are α equal to 0.05/number of SNPs tested (0.0012 in EA and 0.0014 in HA). 2 Likelihood ratio tests were used to assess statistical interaction between the main effects (no interaction term) model and the interaction model, separately for each SNP by race/ethnicity. 3 High MVPA: 5 or more bouts per week of MVPA, low MVPA: less than 5 bouts per week of MVPA
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