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

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

doi:10.1111/ijpo.12885

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

Pediatr Obes. 2022 Jun;17(6):e12885. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12885. Epub 2022 Jan 17.

Authors

Yosuke Inoue^{1

2}, Mariaelisa Graff^{1

3}, Annie Green Howard^{1

4}, Heather M Highland³, Kristin L Young^{1

3}, Kathleen Mullan Harris^{1

5}, Kari E North^{1

3}, Yun Li^{4

6}, Qing Duan^{4

6}, Penny Gordon-Larsen^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Carolina Population Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
² Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁵ Department of Sociology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁶ Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁷ Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.

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.

Keywords: childhood adversity; gene-environment interaction; genetic predisposition to disease; obesity; single nucleotide polymorphism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adult
Adverse Childhood Experiences*
Body Mass Index
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Obesity* / epidemiology
Obesity* / genetics
Young Adult

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding