Do adverse childhood experiences and genetic obesity risk interact in relation to body mass index in young adulthood? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Citation

Inoue, Yosuke; Graff, Mariaelisa; Howard, Annie Green; Highland, Heather M.; Young, Kristin L.; Harris, Kathleen Mullan; North, Kari E.; Li, Yun; Duan, Qing; & Gordon-Larsen, Penny (2022). Do adverse childhood experiences and genetic obesity risk interact in relation to body mass index in young adulthood? Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Pediatric Obesity. , PMCID: PMC9098659

Abstract

Background: Few studies have focused on the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in relation to genetic susceptibility to obesity. Objective We aimed to examine the interaction between the presence of ACEs (i.e., physical, psychological and sexual abuse) before the age of 18 and BMI polygenic score. Methods Data came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) Wave IV (2007/2008) where saliva samples were collected for DNA genotyping and information on BMI and ACEs were obtained from 5854 European American (EA), 2073 African American (AA) and 1448 Hispanic American (HA) participants aged 24 to 32 years old. Polygenic scores were calculated as the sum of the number of risk alleles of BMI-related SNPs which were weighted by effect size. A race/ethnicity-stratified mixed-effects linear regression model was used to test for differential association between BMI polygenic score and BMI by the presence of ACEs. Results We did not find any evidence of significant interaction between ACEs and polygenic score in relation to BMI among EA (p = 0.289), AA (p = 0.618) or HA (p = 0.870). In main effects models, polygenic score was positively associated with BMI in all race/ethnic groups, yet the presence of ACEs was associated with increased BMI only among EA. Conclusion We did not find any evidence that ACEs exacerbate genetic predisposition to increased BMI in early adulthood.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12885

Keyword(s)

Wave IV

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Pediatric Obesity

Author(s)

Inoue, Yosuke
Graff, Mariaelisa
Howard, Annie Green
Highland, Heather M.
Young, Kristin L.
Harris, Kathleen Mullan
North, Kari E.
Li, Yun
Duan, Qing
Gordon-Larsen, Penny

Year Published

2022

ISSN/ISBN

2047-6302

DOI

10.1111/ijpo.12885

PMCID

PMC9098659

Reference ID

9536