A life course approach to elucidate the role of adiposity in asthma risk: evidence from a Mendelian randomisation study

BackgroundAdiposity is associated with asthma although studies do not usually explore the inter-related role of childhood and adult adiposity in asthma risk using a life course perspective.MethodsWe conducted a Mendelian randomisation (MR) study using genetic instruments for childhood body mass inde...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979) 2021-03, Vol.75 (3), p.277-281
Main Authors: Au Yeung, Shiu Lun, Li, Albert Martin, Schooling, C Mary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipose tissue
Adults
Asthma
Bias
Biobanks
Body mass index
Children
Codes
Consortia
Estimates
Genome-wide association studies
Genomes
Health risks
Indoor air quality
Mendelian randomisation
Obesity
Original research
Outdoor air quality
Sensitivity analysis
Statistics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:BackgroundAdiposity is associated with asthma although studies do not usually explore the inter-related role of childhood and adult adiposity in asthma risk using a life course perspective.MethodsWe conducted a Mendelian randomisation (MR) study using genetic instruments for childhood body mass index (BMI) (n=47 541), childhood obesity (n=29 822) and adult BMI (n=681 725) applied to the UK Biobank (n=401 837), with validation in a genome-wide association study of asthma (GABRIEL, n=5616). We used inverse variance weighting and other sensitivity analyses to examine the relationship between adiposity and asthma risk. We assessed mediation using multivariable Mendelian randomisation (MVMR) analysis.ResultsChildhood BMI was related to asthma in the UK Biobank (OR 1.10 per SD increase, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.22). Adult BMI was associated with asthma risk (OR 1.33 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.43). Analyses in GABRIEL gave directionally consistent results but with wide CI. The relationship between childhood obesity and asthma risk was less clear in both data sources. MVMR suggested the relation of childhood BMI with asthma risk was largely mediated via adult BMI.ConclusionAdiposity in childhood likely cause asthma, but the effect is primarily mediated via adult BMI.
ISSN:0143-005X
1470-2738
DOI:10.1136/jech-2020-213745