Context: Thyroid status is hypothesized to be causally related with the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM), but previous results were conflicting possibly because of a complex interaction between... Show moreContext: Thyroid status is hypothesized to be causally related with the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM), but previous results were conflicting possibly because of a complex interaction between thyrotropin (TSH), body mass index (BMI) and DM.Objective: This work aims to investigate the causal association between thyroid status with DM and glucose homeostasis and to what extent this association is dependent on BMI.Methods: A mendelian randomization study was conducted of European-ancestry participants from the UK Biobank population. The present study involved 408895 individuals (mean age 57.4 years [SD 8.0], 45.9% men), of whom 19773 had DM. Genetic variants for circulatory TSH, free thyroxine (fT4) concentrations and BMI to calculate weighted genetic risk scores. The main outcome measures included self-reported DM-stratified analyses by BMI. Analyses were repeated for nonfasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) among individuals without DM.Results: Genetically determined TSH and fT4 levels were not associated with risk of DM in the total UK Biobank population. However, in analyses stratified on genetically determined BMI, genetically determined higher TSH, and not fT4, was associated with a lower risk for DM only in the low BMI group (odds ratio 0.91; 95% CI, 0.85-0.98 in low BMI; P value for interaction = .06). Similar results were observed for glucose and HbA(1c) among individuals without DM.Conclusion: TSH, but not fT4, is a potential causal risk factor for DM in individuals with genetically determined low BMI highlighting potential protective effects of TSH only in low-risk populations. Show less
Both short and long sleep are associated with an adverse lipid profile, likely through different biological pathways. To elucidate the biology of sleep-associated adverse lipid profile, we conduct... Show moreBoth short and long sleep are associated with an adverse lipid profile, likely through different biological pathways. To elucidate the biology of sleep-associated adverse lipid profile, we conduct multi-ancestry genome-wide sleep-SNP interaction analyses on three lipid traits (HDL-c, LDL-c and triglycerides). In the total study sample (discovery + replication) of 126,926 individuals from 5 different ancestry groups, when considering either long or short total sleep time interactions in joint analyses, we identify 49 previously unreported lipid loci, and 10 additional previously unreported lipid loci in a restricted sample of European-ancestry cohorts. In addition, we identify new gene-sleep interactions for known lipid loci such as LPL and PCSK9. The previously unreported lipid loci have a modest explained variance in lipid levels: most notable, gene-short-sleep interactions explain 4.25% of the variance in triglyceride level. Collectively, these findings contribute to our understanding of the biological mechanisms involved in sleep-associated adverse lipid profiles. Show less
Ganeff, I.M.M.; Bos, M.M.; Heemst, D. van; Noordam, R. 2019