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Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for body fat distribution in 694,649 individuals of European ancestry
Sara L. Pulit, Charli Stoneman, Andrew P. Morris, Andrew R. Wood, Craig A. Glastonbury, Jessica Tyrrell, Loïc Yengo, Teresa Ferreira, Eirini Marouli, Yingjie Ji, Jian Yang, Samuel Jones, Robin Beaumont, Damien C. Croteau-Chonka, Thomas W. Winkler, GIANT Consortium, Andrew. T. Hattersley, Ruth J. F. Loos, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Peter M. Visscher, Timothy M. Frayling, Hanieh Yaghootkar, Cecilia M. Lindgren
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304030
Sara L. Pulit
1Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Center for Health for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
2Department of Genetics, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
3Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute, Boston, MA, USA
Charli Stoneman
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Andrew P. Morris
5Biostatistics Department, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
6Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Andrew R. Wood
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Craig A. Glastonbury
1Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Center for Health for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Jessica Tyrrell
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Loïc Yengo
7Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Teresa Ferreira
1Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Center for Health for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Eirini Marouli
8William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Yingjie Ji
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Jian Yang
7Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
9Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Samuel Jones
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Robin Beaumont
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Damien C. Croteau-Chonka
10Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Thomas W. Winkler
11Department of Genetic Epidemiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
GIANT Consortium
Andrew. T. Hattersley
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Ruth J. F. Loos
12The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
Joel N. Hirschhorn
13Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
14Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
15Division of Endocrinology and Center for Basic and Translational Obesity Research, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
16Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Peter M. Visscher
7Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
9Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Timothy M. Frayling
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Hanieh Yaghootkar
4University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, Exeter, UK
Cecilia M. Lindgren
1Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Center for Health for Health Information and Discovery, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
3Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute, Boston, MA, USA
6Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Abstract
We performed a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of body fat distribution, measured by waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI), and identified 463 signals in 346 loci. Heritability and variant effects were generally stronger in women than men, and the 5% of individuals carrying the most WHRadjBMI-increasing alleles were ∼1.62 times more likely than the bottom 5% to have a WHR above the thresholds used for metabolic syndrome. These data, made publically available, will inform the biology of body fat distribution and its relationship with disease.
Copyright
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
Posted April 18, 2018.
Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for body fat distribution in 694,649 individuals of European ancestry
Sara L. Pulit, Charli Stoneman, Andrew P. Morris, Andrew R. Wood, Craig A. Glastonbury, Jessica Tyrrell, Loïc Yengo, Teresa Ferreira, Eirini Marouli, Yingjie Ji, Jian Yang, Samuel Jones, Robin Beaumont, Damien C. Croteau-Chonka, Thomas W. Winkler, GIANT Consortium, Andrew. T. Hattersley, Ruth J. F. Loos, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Peter M. Visscher, Timothy M. Frayling, Hanieh Yaghootkar, Cecilia M. Lindgren
bioRxiv 304030; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304030
Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for body fat distribution in 694,649 individuals of European ancestry
Sara L. Pulit, Charli Stoneman, Andrew P. Morris, Andrew R. Wood, Craig A. Glastonbury, Jessica Tyrrell, Loïc Yengo, Teresa Ferreira, Eirini Marouli, Yingjie Ji, Jian Yang, Samuel Jones, Robin Beaumont, Damien C. Croteau-Chonka, Thomas W. Winkler, GIANT Consortium, Andrew. T. Hattersley, Ruth J. F. Loos, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Peter M. Visscher, Timothy M. Frayling, Hanieh Yaghootkar, Cecilia M. Lindgren
bioRxiv 304030; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304030
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