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Physical activity and the association between the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism and obesity in Portuguese children aged 3 to 11 years
Author(s) -
Manco Licínio,
Pinho Simão,
Albuquerque David,
MachadoRodrigues Aristides M.,
Padez Cristina
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23312
Subject(s) - obesity , medicine , body mass index , overweight , waist , fto gene , logistic regression , demography , odds ratio , waist to height ratio , endocrinology , polymorphism (computer science) , allele , biology , genetics , sociology , gene
Objectives To investigate whether objectively measured physical activity (PA) modulates the association between the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism and obesity variables in a sample of Portuguese children. Methods A total of 440 children (213 girls and 227 boys) aged 3 to 11 years were observed. Genotyping was performed using TaqMan assay. Body mass index (BMI), BMI Z scores, waist circumference (WC), and waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) were calculated. PA was estimated in 399 children by accelerometry. Results Linear regression, in the additive model, showed that the rs9939609 minor A‐allele significantly associated with BMI ( P = .029), BMI Z score ( P = .017), WC ( P = .016), and WHtR ( P = .019). Logistic regression, in the additive model, showed a marginally significant association between the A‐allele and overweight/obesity (odds ratio [OR]: 1.372; P = .049). When stratified by sex, rs9939609 showed marginal or significant associations with BMI ( P = .08), BMI Z score ( P = .07), WC ( P = .005), WHtR ( P = .02), and overweight/obesity (OR: 1.529; P = .064) in girls but not in boys ( P > .05). Significant interactions were not found between the FTO polymorphism and PA (inactive vs active groups of children) for BMI ( P = .461), BMI Z score ( P = .387), WC ( P = .757), or WHtR ( P = .621). Conclusions Findings of the present study highlight the association between FTO rs9939609 and obesity or body fat indices in girls but not in boys. PA was not found to mediate the impact of FTO genetic variation on risk of obesity.