The first genome-wide association study on pediatric obesity in Taiwan

The global prevalence of pediatric obesity has risen sharply, increasing from 0.7% to 5.6% in girls and from 0.9% to 7.8% in boys between 1975 and 2016. Genetic factors contribute an estimated 50-80% to obesity risk. In 2007, FTO was identified as the first obesity-associated gene through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), but research in Asian pediatric populations remains limited. This study investigated the genetic architecture of pediatric obesity in Taiwanese children.

Data were obtained from the China Medical University Hospital Biobank. Obese cases were defined as BMI above 95th percentile for age and sex; controls had BMI between the 3rd and 50th percentiles. GWAS was performed on 5854 cases and 12,343 controls aged 2-17 years using the TPMv1 customized single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) were constructed with PRSice2. Phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) evaluated PRS-disease associations, and network analyses were conducted via Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. (IPA).

GWAS identified 367 SNPs associated with pediatric obesity at P < 1 × 10^-5, with leading SNPs rs79500119 (ASB3, chromosome 2) and rs74617772 (near FTO, chromosome 16). Obesity cases had significantly higher PRS (P < 0.05). PheWAS linked obesity PRS to type 2 diabetes, hypertension, respiratory infections, liver disease, and precocious puberty. Network analysis highlighted the insulin-AKT pathway as potentially central to pathogenesis.

This first GWAS of pediatric obesity in Taiwan revealed novel, population-specific genetic associations. The PRS offers potential for metabolic risk stratification, and the insulin-AKT pathway represents a relevant biological framework for further investigation of pediatric obesity pathogenesis.