Does a heritable common latent factor explain body mass index, percent body fat, and waist circumference across childhood?
Authors' conclusion
Our findings support a highly heritable common adiposity factor for BMI, body fat, and waist circumference in a community sample of youth, and suggest that BMI is a useful measure of adiposity in large-scale epidemiological studies with limited resources in middle childhood. When resources permit, including other adiposity indicators such as percent body fat and waist circumference can provide more precise assessments for specific subgroups. Our study highlights the need for individualized approaches to managing childhood adiposity, recognizing the strong genetic component and the variability in how children respond to their environments. Theories of the etiology of childhood obesity should accommodate genetic influences to optimize prevention and intervention efforts.
Study context
- Population
- Community sample of twin children studied at ages 8, 9, 10 and 11 years; female 47.8–49.9%; Non-Hispanic White 51.9–59.5%, Hispanic 29.5–35.7%254–326 twin pairs
- Exposure
- Independent vs common pathway models of genetic and environmental contributions to body mass index (BMI), percent body fat and waist circumference
- Outcome
- Genetic and environmental contributions to BMI, percent body fat and waist circumference, and overlap of their genetic and environmental variances
- Follow-up
- Middle childhood
Methodological detailscommunity sample, longitudinal (ages 8, 9, 10 and 11 years), comparison of independent and common pathway models
- Community sample
- Longitudinal (ages 8, 9, 10 and 11 years)
- Comparison of independent and common pathway models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Variance in BMI explained by common factor, regardless of age
97-98%
Variance in percent body fat explained by indicator-specific genetic and environmental influences
10-17%
Variance in waist circumference explained by indicator-specific genetic and environmental influences
14-29%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
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