Genetic influence on within-person longitudinal change in anthropometric traits in the UK Biobank

Abstract

Abstract The causes of temporal fluctuations in adult traits are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the genetic determinants of within-person trait variability of 8 repeatedly measured anthropometric traits in 50,117 individuals from the UK Biobank. We found that within-person (non-directional) variability had a SNP-based heritability of 2–5% for height, sitting height, body mass index (BMI) and weight (P $$\le$$ ≤ 2.4 × 10− 3). We also analysed longitudinal trait change and show a loss of both average height and weight beyond about 70 years of age. A variant tracking the Alzheimer’s risk APOE- $${{{{{\mathcal{E}}}}}}4$$ E 4 allele (rs429358) was significantly associated with weight loss ( $$\beta$$ β = −0.047 kg per yr, s.e. 0.007, P = 2.2 × 10−11), and using 2-sample Mendelian Randomisation we detected a relationship consistent with causality between decreased lumbar spine bone mineral density and height loss (b xy = 0.011, s.e. 0.003, P = 3.5 × 10−4). Finally, population-level variance quantitative trait loci (vQTL) were consistent with within-person variability for several traits, indicating an overlap between trait variability assessed at the population or individual level. Our findings help elucidate the genetic influence on trait-change within an individual and highlight disease risks associated with these changes.