Abstract
Waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of body fat distribution and a predictor of metabolic consequences independent of overall adiposity. WHR is heritable, but few genetic variants influencing this trait have been identified. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies for WHR adjusted for body mass index (comprising up to 77,167 participants), following up 16 loci in an additional 29 studies (comprising up to 113,636 subjects). We identified 13 new loci in or near RSPO3, VEGFA, TBX15-WARS2, NFE2L3, GRB14, DNM3-PIGC, ITPR2-SSPN, LY86, HOXC13, ADAMTS9, ZNRF3-KREMEN1, NISCH-STAB1 and CPEB4 (P = 1.9 × 10−9 to P = 1.8 × 10−40) and the known signal at LYPLAL1. Seven of these loci exhibited marked sexual dimorphism, all with a stronger effect on WHR in women than men (P for sex difference = 1.9 × 10−3 to P = 1.2 × 10−13). These findings provide evidence for multiple loci that modulate body fat distribution independent of overall adiposity and reveal strong gene-by-sex interactions.
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Change history
12 October 2011
In the version of this article initially published, there were errors in Table 1. Specifically, for eight SNPs, the effect allele frequencies were reversed. The correct effect allele frequencies for rs9491696, rs984222, rs4846567, rs1011731, rs718314, rs1294421, rs6795735 and rs2076529 are 0.480, 0.635, 0.717, 0.428, 0.259, 0.613, 0.594 and 0.430, respectively. These errors have been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
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Acknowledgements
Funding for this study was provided by the Academy of Finland (grants 104781, 120315, 129269, 117797, 121584, 126925, 129418, 129568, 77299, 124243, 213506, 129680, 129494, 10404, 213506, 129680, 114382, 126775, 127437, 129255, 129306, 130326, 209072, 210595, 213225 and 216374); an ADA Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship grant; Affymetrix, Inc., for genotyping services (N02-HL-6-4278); ALF/LUA Gothenburg; Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament); Amgen; AstraZeneca AB; Augustinus Foundation; Becket Foundation; Biocentrum Helsinki; Biomedicum Helsinki Foundation; Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200); British Diabetes Association (1192); British Diabetic Association Research; British Heart Foundation (97020, PG/02/128); Busselton Population Medical Research Foundation; Cambridge NIHR Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre; CamStrad; Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government; Contrat Plan Etat Région de France; Danish Centre for Health Technology Assessment; Danish Diabetes Association; Danish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Health; Danish Heart Foundation; Danish Pharmaceutical Association; Danish Research Council; DIAB Core (German Network of Diabetes); Diabetes UK; Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; Dresden University of Technology Funding Grant, Med Drive; EMGO+ institute; Emil and Vera Cornell Foundation; Erasmus Medical Center and Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Estonian Government SF0180142s08; European Commission (2004310, 212111, 205419, 245536, DG XII, HEALTH-F4-2007-201413, FP7/2007-2013, QLG1-CT-2000-01643, QLG2-CT-2002-01254, LSHG-CT-2006-018947, LSHG-CT-2006-01947, LSHG-CT-2004-512066, LSHM-CT-2007-037273, EU/WLRT-2001-01254, LSHG-CT-2004-518153, SOC 95201408 05F02, Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship); Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103, 01ZZ0403, 03ZIK012, 01 EA 9401); Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; Finnish Diabetes Research Foundation; Finnish Diabetes Research Society; Finnish Foundation for Pediatric Research; Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Medical Society; Finska Läkaresällskapet; Finnish Ministry of Education; Folkhälsan Research Foundation; Fond Européen pour le Développement Régional; Fondation LeDucq; Foundation for Life and Health in Finland; GEN-AU 'GOLD' from Austria; German Bundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technology (# 01 AK 803 A-H, # 01 IG 07015 G); German National Genome Research Net NGFN2 and NGFNplus (01GS0823, FKZ 01GS0823); German Research Council (KFO-152); GlaxoSmithKline; Göteborg Medical Society; Gyllenberg Foundation; Health Care Centers in Vasa, Närpes and Korsholm; Healthway, Western Australia; Helmholtz Center Munich; Helsinki University Central Hospital; Hjartavernd (the Icelandic Heart Association); Ib Henriksen Foundation; IZKF (B27); Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation; Juho Vainio Foundation; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF); Karolinska Institute and the Stockholm County Council (560183); Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Lundbeck Foundation Centre of Applied Medical Genomics for Personalized Disease Prediction, Prevention and Care; Knut Krohn, Microarray Core Facility of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF), University of Leipzig, Germany; Lundberg Foundation; MC Health; Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany; South Tyrol Ministry of Health; Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia (216-1080315-0302); Medical Research Council UK (G0000649, G0601261, G9521010D, G0000934, G0500539, G0600331, PrevMetSyn); Montreal Heart Institute Foundation; MRC Centre for Obesity-Related Metabolic Disease; Municipal Health Care Center and Hospital in Jakobstad; Municipality of Rotterdam; Närpes Health Care Foundation; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and the Great Wine Estates Auctions; Netherlands Centre for Medical Systems Biology (SPI 56-464-1419); Netherlands Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports; Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Netherlands Genomics Initiative; Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging (050-060-810); Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research Netherlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Investments (175.010.2005.011, 911-03-012, 904-61-090, 904-61-193, 480-04-004, 400-05-717); National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program; US National Institutes of Health (CA047988, CA65725, CA87969, CA49449, CA67262, CA50385, DK075787, DK062370, DK58845, DK072193, K23-DK080145, K99HL094535, N01-HC85079 through N01-HC85086, N01-HG-65403, N01-AG-12100, N01-HC-25195, N01-HC35129, N01-HC15103, N01-HC55222, N01-HC75150, N01-HC45133, N01-HC55015, N01-HC55016, N01-HC-55018, N01-HC-55019, N01-HC-55020, N01-HC-55021, N01-HC-55022, NO1-AG-1-2109, HL71981, HG005581, HG002651, HL084729, HL043851, HHSN268200625226C, K23-DK080145, MH084698, P30-DK072488, R01-DK075787, R01 HL087652, R01-HL087641, R01-HL59367, R01-HL086694, R01-HL087647, R01-HL087679, R01-HL087700, R01-AG031890, R01-HL088119, R01-DK068336, R01-DK075681, R01-DK-073490, R01-DK075787, R01-MH63706, U01-HL72515, U01-GM074518, U01-HL084756, U01-HG004399, UO1-CA098233, UL1-RR025005, UL1-RR025005, U01-HG004402, U01-DK062418, U01 HL080295, T32-HG00040, 263-MA-410953, 1RL1-MH083268-01, intramural project 1Z01-HG000024); National Institute for Health Research (NIHR); Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam; Novo Nordisk Foundation; Novo Nordisk Inc., Research Foundation of Copenhagen County; Ollqvist Foundation; Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation; Pew Scholarship for the Biomedical Sciences; Perklén Foundation; Petrus and Augusta Hedlunds Foundation; Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (014-93-015, RIDE, RIDE2); Sahlgrenska Center for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research (CMR, A305:188); Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany; Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation; Sigrid Juselius Foundation; Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany; South Tyrolean Sparkasse Foundation; State of Bavaria, Germany; Support for Science Funding programme; Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF); Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation; Swedish Medical Research Council (8691, K2007-66X-20270-01-3, K2010-54X-09894-19-3); Swedish Society of Medicine; Swiss National Science Foundation (33CSCO-122661); the Royal Society; the Royal Swedish Academy of Science; Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg's Foundation; Turku University Hospitals; UK Department of Health Policy Research Programme; University and Research of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano; University Hospital Medical funds to Tampere; University Hospital Oulu, Biocenter, University of Oulu, Finland (75617); Västra Götaland Foundation; Wellcome Trust (077016/Z/05/Z, 068545/Z/02, 072960, 076113, 083270, 085301, 079557, 081682, 075491, 076113/B/04/Z, 091746/Z/10/Z, 079895, WT086596/Z/08/Z, WT Research Career Development Fellowship; WT Career Development Award); Western Australian Genetic Epidemiology Resource and the Western Australian DNA Bank (both National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Enabling Facilities); Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation.
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Writing group: I.B., C.S.F., I.M.H. (lead), C.M.L. (lead), M.I.M., K.L. Mohlke, L.Q., V. Steinthorsdottir, G.T., M.C.Z.
Waist phenotype working group: T.L.A., N.B., I.B., L.A.C., C.M.D., C.S.F., T.B.H., I.M.H., A.U.J., C.M.L. (lead), R.J.F.L., R.M., M.I.M., K.L. Mohlke, L.Q., J.C.R., E.K.S., V. Steinthorsdottir, K. Stefansson, G.T., U.T., C.C.W., T.W., T.W.W., H.E.W., M.C.Z.
Data cleaning and analysis: S.I.B., I.M.H. (lead), E.I., A.U.J., H.L., C.M.L. (lead), R.J.F.L. (lead), J.L., R.M., L.Q., J.C.R., E.K.S., G.T., S.V., M.N.W., E.W., C.J.W., T.W.W., T.W.
Sex-specific analyses: S.I.B., T.E., I.M.H., A.U.J., T.O.K., Z.K., S.L., C.M.L., R.J.F.L., R.M., K.L. Monda, K.E.N., L.Q., J.C.R. (lead), V. Steinthorsdottir, G.T., T.W.W. (lead).
eQTL and expression analyses: S.I.B., A.L.D., C.C.H., J.N.H., F.K., L.M.K., C.M.L., L.L., R.J.F.L., J.L., M.F.M., J.L.M., C.M., G.N., E.E.S., E.K.S., V. Steinthorsdottir, G.T., K.T.Z.
Pathway and CNV analyses: C.M.L., S.A.M., M.I.M., J.N., V. Steinthorsdottir, G.T., B.F.V.
Secondary analyses: S.I.B., I.B.B., N.C., K.E., T.M.F., M.F.F., T.F., M.E.G., J.N.H., E.I., G.L., C.M.L., H.L., R.M., M. Mangino, M.I.M., K.L. Mohlke, D.R.N., J.R.O., S.P., J.R.B.P., J.C.R., A.V.S., E.K.S., P.M.V., M.N.W., C.J.W., R.J.W., E.W., A.R.W., J.Y.
Study-specific analyses: G.R.A., D.A., N.A., T.A., T.L.A., N.B., C.C., P.S.C., L.C., L.A.C., D.I.C., M.N.C., C.M.D., T.E., K.E., E.F., M.F.F., T.F., A.P.G., N.L.G., M.E.G., C. Hayward, N.L.H., I.M.H., J.J.H., A.U.J., Å.J., T. Johnson, J.O.J., J.R.K., M. Kaakinen, K. Kapur, S. Ketkar, J.W.K., P. Kraft, A.T.K., Z.K., J. Kettunen, C. Lamina, R.J.F.L., C. Lecoeur, H.L., M.F.L., C.M.L., J.L., R.W.L., R.M., M. Mangino, B.M., K.L. Monda, A.P.M., N.N., K.E.N., D.R.N., J.R.O., K.K.O., C.O., M.J.P., O. Polasek, I. Prokopenko, N.P., M.P., L.Q., J.C.R., N.W.R., S.R., F.R., N.R.R., C.S., L.J.S., K. Silander, E.K.S., K. Stark, S.S., A.V.S., N.S., U.S., V. Steinthorsdottir, D.P.S., I.S., M.L.T., T.M.T., N.J.T., A.T., G.T., A.U., S.V., V. Vitart, L.V., P.M.V., R.M.W., R.W., R.J.W., S.W., M.N.W., C.C.W., C.J.W., T.W.W., A.R.W., J.Y., J.H.Z., M.C.Z.
Study-specific genotyping: D.A., T.L.A., L.D.A., N.B., I.B., A.J.B., E.B., L.L.B., I.B.B., H.C., D.I.C., I.N.M.D., M. Dei, M.R.E., P.E., K.E., N.B.F., M.F., A.P.G., H.G., C.G., E.J.C.G., C.J.G., T. Hansen, A.L.H., N.H., C. Hayward, A.A.H., J.J.H., F.B.H., D.J.H., J.H., W.I., M.R.J., Å.J., J.O.J., J.W.K., P. Kovacs, A.T.K., H.K.K., J. Kettunen, P. Kraft, R.N.L., C.M.L., R.J.F.L., J.L., M.L.L., M.A.M., M. Mangino, W.L.M., M.I.M., J.B.J.M., M.J.N., M.N., D.R.N., K.K.O., C.O., O. Pedersen, L.P., M.J.P., G.P., A.N.P., N.P., L.Q., N.W.R., F.R., N.R.R., C.S., A.J.S., N.S., A.C.S., M.T., B.T., A.U., G.U., V. Vatin, P.M.V., H.W., P.Z.
Study-specific phenotyping: H.A., P.A., D.A., A.M.A., T.L.A., B.B., S.R.B., R.B., E.B., I.B.B., J.P.B., M. Dörr, C.M.D., P.E., M.F.F., C.S.F., T.M.F., M.F., S.G., J.G., L.C.G., T. Hansen, A.S.H., C. Hengstenberg, A.L.H., A.T.H., K.H.H., A. Hofman, F.B.H., D.J.H., B.I., T.I., T. Jørgensen, P.J., M.R.J., Å.J., A.J., A.L.J., J.O.J., F.K., L.K., J. Kuusisto, K. Kvaloy, R.K., S. Ketkar, J.W.K., I.K., S. Koskinen, V.K., M. Kähönen, P. Kovacs, O.L., R.N.L., B.L., J.L., G.M.L., R.J.F.L., T.L., M. Mangino, M.I.M., C.O., B.M.P., O. Pedersen, C.G.P.P., J.F.P., I. Pichler, K.P., O. Polasek, A.P., L.Q., M.R., I.R., O.R., V. Salomaa, J. Saramies, P.E.H.S., K. Silander, N.J.S., J.H.S., T.D.S., D.P.S., R.S., H.M.S., J. Sinisalo, T.T., A.T., M.U., P.V., C.B.V., L.V., J.V., D.R.W., G.B.W., S.H.W., G.W., J.C.W., A.F.W., L.Z., P.Z.
Study-specific management: G.R.A., A.M.A., B.B., Y.B.S., R.N.B., H.B., J.S.B., S.B., M.B., E.B., D.I.B., I.B.B., J.P.B., M.J.C., F.S.C., L.A.C., G.D., C.M.D., S.E., G.E., P.F., C.S.F., T.M.F., L.C.G., V.G., U.G., M.E.G., T. Hansen, C. Hengstenberg, K.H., A. Hamsten, T.B.H., A.T.H., A. Hofman, F.B.H., D.J.H., B.I., T.I., C.I., T. Jørgensen, M.R.J., A.L.J., F.K., K.T.K., W.H.L.K., R.K., J. Kaprio, M. Kähönen, M.L., D.A.L., L.J.L., C.M.L., R.J.F.L., T.L., M. Marre, T.M., A.M.E.T., K.M., M.I.M., K.L. Mohlke, P.B.M., K.E.N., M.S.N., D.R.N., B.O., C.O., O. Pedersen, L.P., B.W.P., P.P.P., B.M.P., L.J.P., T.Q., A.R., I.R., O.R., P.M.R., V. Salomaa, P.S., D.S., A.R.S., N.S., T.D.S., K. Stefansson, D.P.S., A.C.S., M.S., T.T., J.T., U.T., A.T., M.U., A.U., T.T.V., P.V., H.V., J.V., P.M.V., N.J.W., H.E.W., J.F.W., J.C.W., A.F.W.
Steering committee: G.R.A., T.L.A., I.B., S.I.B., M.B., I.B.B., P.D., C.M.D., C.S.F., T.M.F., L.C.G., T. Haritunians, J.N.H. (chair), D.J.H., E.I., R.K., R.J.F.L., M.I.M., K.L. Mohlke, K.E.N., J.R.O., L.P., D.S., D.P.S., U.T., H.E.W.
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I.B. and spouse own stock in Incyte Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline. J.H. is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Correlagen, Inc. A.P. is employed by Amgen. K.S., V.S., G.T., U.T. and G.B.W. are employed by deCODE Genetics.
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On behalf of the MAGIC (Meta-Analyses of Glucose and Insulin-related traits Consortium) investigators.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Text and Figures
Supplementary Tables 1–11, Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary Note. (PDF 1108 kb)
Supplementary Table 11
3,113 SNPs tagging the 856 CNVs in the HapMap 3 catalog across all HapMap3 populations (XLS 217 kb)
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Heid, I., Jackson, A., Randall, J. et al. Meta-analysis identifies 13 new loci associated with waist-hip ratio and reveals sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution. Nat Genet 42, 949–960 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.685
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