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Persistent thinness and anorexia nervosa differ on a genomic level

Hubel, Christopher; Abdulkadir, Mohamed; Herle, Moritz; Palmos, Alish B; Loos, Ruth JF; Breen, Gerome; Micali, Nadia; (2024) Persistent thinness and anorexia nervosa differ on a genomic level. European Journal of Human Genetics , 32 (1) pp. 117-124. 10.1038/s41431-023-01431-8. Green open access

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Abstract

Thinness and anorexia nervosa are both characterised by persistent low weight. Individuals with anorexia nervosa concurrently report distorted perceptions of their body and engage in weight-loss behaviours, whereas individuals with thinness often wish to gain weight. Both conditions are heritable and share genomics with BMI, but are not genetically correlated with each other. Based on their pattern of genetic associations with other traits, we explored differences between thinness and anorexia nervosa on a genomic level. In Part 1, using publicly available data, we compared genetic correlations of persistent thinness/anorexia nervosa with eleven psychiatric disorders. In Part 2, we identified individuals with adolescent persistent thinness in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) by latent class growth analysis of measured BMI from 10 to 24 years (n = 6594) and evaluated associations with psychiatric and anthropometric polygenic scores. In Part 1, in contrast to the positive genetic correlations of anorexia nervosa with various psychiatric disorders, persistent thinness showed negative genetic correlations with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (r gAN = 0.08 vs. r gPT = −0.30), alcohol dependence (r gAN = 0.07 vs. r gPT = −0.44), major depressive disorder (rgAN = 0.27 vs. rgPT = −0.18) and post-traumatic stress disorder (rgAN = 0.26 vs. rgPT = −0.20). In Part 2, individuals with adolescent persistent thinness in the ALSPAC had lower borderline personality disorder polygenic scores (OR = 0.77; Q = 0.01). Overall, results suggest that genetic variants associated with thinness are negatively associated with psychiatric disorders and therefore thinness may be differentiable from anorexia nervosa on a genomic level.

Type: Article
Title: Persistent thinness and anorexia nervosa differ on a genomic level
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41431-023-01431-8
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41431-023-01431-8
Language: English
Additional information: Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Genetics & Heredity, CONSTITUTIONAL THINNESS, ASSOCIATION, INSIGHTS, OBESITY, LOCI, TOOL
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10186899
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