Shared genetic etiology and causality between body fat percentage and cardiovascular diseases: a large-scale genome-wide cross-trait analysis

BMC Med. 2021 Apr 29;19(1):100. doi: 10.1186/s12916-021-01972-z.

Abstract

Background: Accumulating evidences have suggested that high body fat percentage (BF%) often occurs in parallel with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), implying a common etiology between them. However, the shared genetic etiology underlying BF% and CVDs remains unclear.

Methods: Using large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, we investigated shared genetics between BF% (N = 100,716) and 10 CVD-related traits (n = 6968-977,323) with linkage disequilibrium score regression, multi-trait analysis of GWAS, and transcriptome-wide association analysis, and evaluated causal associations using Mendelian randomization.

Results: We found strong positive genetic correlations between BF% and heart failure (HF) (Rg = 0.47, P = 1.27 × 10- 22) and coronary artery disease (CAD) (Rg = 0.22, P = 3.26 × 10- 07). We identified 5 loci and 32 gene-tissue pairs shared between BF% and HF, as well as 16 loci and 28 gene-tissue pairs shared between BF% and CAD. The loci were enriched in blood vessels and brain tissues, while the gene-tissue pairs were enriched in the nervous, cardiovascular, and exo-/endocrine system. In addition, we observed that BF% was causally related with a higher risk of HF (odds ratio 1.63 per 1-SD increase in BF%, P = 4.16 × 10-04) using a MR approach.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that BF% and CVDs have shared genetic etiology and targeted reduction of BF% may improve cardiovascular outcomes. This work advances our understanding of the genetic basis underlying co-morbid obesity and CVDs and opens up a new way for early prevention of CVDs.

Keywords: Body fat percentage; Cardiovascular diseases; Genetic correlation; Mendelian randomization; Shared genetics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipose Tissue
  • Cardiovascular Diseases* / epidemiology
  • Cardiovascular Diseases* / genetics
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genome-Wide Association Study*
  • Humans
  • Mendelian Randomization Analysis
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide