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Latent common genetic components of obesity traits

International Journal of Obesity volume 32, pages 1799–1806 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Background:

Obesity is rapidly becoming a global epidemic. Unlike many complex human diseases, obesity is defined not just by a single trait or phenotype, but jointly by measures of anthropometry and metabolic status.

Methods:

We applied maximum likelihood factor analysis to identify common latent factors underlying observed covariance in multiple obesity-related measures. Both the genetic components and the mode of inheritance of the common factors were evaluated. A total of 1775 participants from 590 families for whom measures on obesity-related traits were available were included in this study.

Results:

The average age of participants was 37 years, 39% of the participants were obese (body mass index ⩾30.0 kg/m2) and 26% were overweight (body mass index 25.0–29.9 kg/m2). Two latent common factors jointly accounting for over 99% of the correlations among obesity-related traits were identified. Complex segregation analysis of the age- and sex-adjusted latent factors provide evidence for a Mendelian mode of inheritance of major genetic effect with heritability estimates of 40.4 and 47.5% for the first and second factors, respectively.

Conclusions:

These findings provide a support for multivariate-based approach for investigating pleiotropic effects on obesity-related traits, which can be applied in both genetic linkage and association mapping.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Grant number HL53353-10.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL, USA

    B O Tayo, R Harders, A Luke & R S Cooper

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    X Zhu

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  1. B O Tayo
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Correspondence to B O Tayo.

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Tayo, B., Harders, R., Luke, A. et al. Latent common genetic components of obesity traits. Int J Obes 32, 1799–1806 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2008.194

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