Dataset Information

Body Mass Index and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study of 399,536 Individuals.

ABSTRACT:

Context

Recently, data on 2,000,000 people established that low body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of dementia. Whether this observational association reflects a causal effect remains to be clarified.

Objective

We tested the hypothesis that there is a causal association between low BMI and high risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Design, setting, and participants

Using a Mendelian randomization approach, we studied 95,578 individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study (CGPS) with up to 36 years of follow-up and consortia data on 303,958 individuals from the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) and the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP).

Main outcome measure

Risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Results

The causal odds ratio for a 1-kg/m2 genetically determined lower BMI was 0.98 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.77 to 1.23] for a weighted allele score in the CGPS. Using 32 BMI-decreasing variants from GIANT and IGAP the causal odds ratio for Alzheimer's disease for a 1-standard deviation (SD) lower genetically determined BMI was 1.02 (95% CI, 0.86 to 1.22). Corresponding observational hazard ratios from the CGPS were 1.07 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.09) and 1.32 (95% CI, 1.20 to 1.46) for a 1-kg/m2 and a 1-SD lower BMI, respectively.

Conclusions

Genetic and hence lifelong low BMI is not associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease in the general population. These data suggest that low BMI is not a causal risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and that the corresponding observational association likely is explained by reverse causation or confounding.

SUBMITTER: Nordestgaard LT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5505195 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Body Mass Index and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study of 399,536 Individuals.

Nordestgaard Liv Tybjærg LT Tybjærg-Hansen Anne A Nordestgaard Børge G BG Frikke-Schmidt Ruth R

The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 20170701 7

<h4>Context</h4>Recently, data on 2,000,000 people established that low body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased risk of dementia. Whether this observational association reflects a causal effect remains to be clarified.<h4>Objective</h4>We tested the hypothesis that there is a causal association between low BMI and high risk of Alzheimer's disease.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>Using a Mendelian randomization approach, we studied 95,578 individuals from the Copenhagen Genera ...[more]

PMID: 28609829

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Project description:ImportanceHigher body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease; however, the underlying causal associations remain unclear.ObjectivesTo use UK Biobank data to report causal estimates of the association between BMI and cardiometabolic disease outcomes and traits, such as pulse rate, using mendelian randomization.Design, setting, and participantsCross-sectional baseline data from a population-based cohort study including 119 859 UK Biobank participants with complete phenotypic (medical and sociodemographic) and genetic data. Participants attended 1 of 22 assessment centers across the United Kingdom between 2006 and 2010. The present study was conducted from May 1 to July 11, 2016.Main outcomes and measuresPrevalence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and type 2 diabetes were determined at assessment, based on self-report. Blood pressure was measured clinically. Participants self-reported sociodemographic information pertaining to relevant confounders. A polygenic risk score comprising 93 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with BMI from previous genome-wide association studies was constructed, and the genetic risk score was applied to derive causal estimates using a mendelian randomization approach.ResultsOf the 119 859 individuals included in the study, 56 816 (47.4%) were men; mean (SD) age was 56.87 (7.93) years. Mendelian randomization analysis showed significant positive associations between genetically instrumented higher BMI and risk of hypertension (odds ratio [OR] per 1-SD higher BMI, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.48-1.83; P = 1.1 × 10-19), coronary heart disease (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.09-1.69; P = .007) and type 2 diabetes (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 2.04-3.13; P = 1.5 × 10-17), as well as systolic blood pressure (β = 1.65 mm Hg; 95% CI, 0.78-2.52 mm Hg; P = 2.0 × 10-04) and diastolic blood pressure (β = 1.37 mm Hg; 95% CI, 0.88-1.85 mm Hg; P = 3.6 × 10-08). These associations were independent of age, sex, Townsend deprivation scores, alcohol intake, and smoking history.Conclusions and relevanceThe results of this study add to the burgeoning evidence of an association between higher BMI and increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases. This finding has relevance for public health policies in many countries with increasing obesity levels.

Dataset Information

Body Mass Index and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study of 399,536 Individuals.

Context

Objective

Design, setting, and participants

Main outcome measure

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Body Mass Index and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Mendelian Randomization Study of 399,536 Individuals.

Similar Datasets

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