Association of a Genetic Risk Score with BMI along the Life-Cycle: Evidence from Several US Cohorts

Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano (), Anastasia Terskaya () and Angie Upegui ()
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Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano: Universidad de Alicante
Anastasia Terskaya: University of Barcelona
Angie Upegui: Universidad de Alicante

No 13671, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We use data from the The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how the the effect of individuals' genetic predisposition to higher BMI —measured by BMI polygenic scores— changes over the life-cycle for several cohorts. We find that the effect of BMI polygenic scores on BMI increases significantly as teenagers transition into adulthood (using the Add Health cohort, born 1974-83). However, this is not the case for individuals aged 55+ who were born in earlier HRS cohorts (1931-53), whose life-cycle pattern of genetic influence on BMI is remarkably stable as they move into old-age.

Keywords: Add Health; BMI polygenic scores; obesity; Health and Retirement Study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2020-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-hea
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Published - revised version published in: PLoS ONE, 2020, 15 (9), e0239067.

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