title: Common variants of FTO are associated with childhood obesity in a cross-sectional study of 3,126 urban Indian children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  FTO variants are robustly associated with obesity and related traits in many population and shown to have variable impact during life course. Although studies have shown association of FTO variants with adiposity in adult Indian, its association in Indian children is yet to be confirmed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here we examined association of FTO variants (rs9939609 and rs8050136) with obesity and related anthropometric and biochemical traits in 3,126 Indian children (aged 11-17 years) including 2,230 normal-weight and 896 over-weight/obese children. We also compared effects observed in the present study with that observed in previous studies on South Asian adults and children of other ethnic groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The variant rs9939609 showed significant association with risk of obesity [OR = 1.21, P = 2.5 × 10(-3)] and its measures BMI, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference [β range = 0.11 to 0.14 Z-score units; P range = 1.3 × 10(-4) to 1.6 × 10(-7)] in children. The observed effect sizes in Indian children were similar to those reported for European children. Variant rs9939609 explained 0.88% of BMI variance in Indian children. The effect sizes of rs9939609 on BMI and WC were ~2 fold higher in children than adults. Interestingly rs9939609 was also associated with serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) [β = 0.10 Z-score, P = 5.8 × 10(-3)]. The other variant rs8050136 was in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs9939609 (r(2) = 0.97) and provided similar association results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides first report of association of FTO variants with obesity and related anthropometric traits in Indian children with higher impact in children compared to adults. We also demonstrated association of FTO variant with serum levels of TSH, indicating putative influence of FTO in hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.
authors.affiliation: Genomics and Molecular Medicine Unit, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Om Prakash
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Dwivedi
authors.forename: Rubina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabassum
authors.forename: Ganesh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Raman K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Marwaha
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.forename: Dwaipayan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics*; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014505:Urban Population; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO; C526492:FTO protein, human