Genetic analysis of selection bias in a natural experiment: Investigating in-utero famine effects on elevated body mass index in the Dutch Hunger Winter Families Study.

ABSTRACT: Natural-experiment designs that compare survivors of in-utero famine exposure to unaffected controls suggest that in-utero undernutrition predisposes to development of obesity. However, birth rates drop dramatically during famines. Selection bias could arise if factors that contribute to obesity also protect fertility and/or fetal survival under famine conditions. We investigated this hypothesis using genetic analysis of a famine-exposed birth cohort. We genotyped participants in the Dutch Hunger Winter Families Study (DHWFS, N=950; 45% male), of whom 51% were exposed to the 1944-1945 Dutch Famine during gestation and 49% were their unexposed same-sex siblings or "time controls" born before or after the famine in the same hospitals. We computed body-mass index (BMI) polygenic indices (PGIs

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12234219 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature