Lifetime body mass index and later atherosclerosis risk in young adults: examining causal links using Mendelian randomization in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Mendelian randomization uses genetic variants related to environmentally modifiable risk factors in an attempt to improve causal inference from observational data. We examined the effect of lifetime body mass index (BMI) on adult carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and various atherosclerotic risk factors by using both Mendelian randomization and conventional analyses.

Methods and results

A total of 2230 individuals (1218 women), aged 3-18 at study induction, took part in clinical examinations in 1980, 1983, 1986, and, most recently, 2001 when they were aged 24-39. In these analyses we utilized the known relation between FTO polymorphism rs9939609 and BMI. The dose-response association between the number of A alleles in FTO and higher mean BMI from childhood to adulth

SUBMITTER: Kivimaki M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2567023 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature