Original investigation

Association between the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism and the metabolic syndrome in a non-Caucasian multi-ethnic sample

Salam A Al-Attar¹ , Rebecca L Pollex¹ , Matthew R Ban¹ , T Kue Young² , Peter Bjerregaard³ , Sonia S Anand⁴ , Salim Yusuf⁴ , Bernard Zinman⁵ , Stewart B Harris⁶ , Anthony JG Hanley^5,7 , Philip W Connelly⁸ , Murray W Huff^1,9 and Robert A Hegele^1,9

¹  Vascular Biology Research Group, Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada

²  Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

³  National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, Denmark

⁴  Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

⁵  Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, and Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

⁶  Thames Valley Family Practice Research Unit, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

⁷  Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

⁸  Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, and the Keenan Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

⁹  Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

author email corresponding author email

Cardiovascular Diabetology 2008, 7:5doi:10.1186/1475-2840-7-5

Published:	13 March 2008

Abstract

Background

The rs9939609 T>A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the FTO gene has previously been found to be associated with obesity in European Caucasian samples. The objective of this study is to examine whether this association extends to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and applies in non-Caucasian samples.

Methods

The FTO rs9939609 SNP was genotyped in 2121 subjects from four different non-Caucasian geographical ancestries. Subjects were classified for the presence or absence of MetS according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (NCEP ATP) III definitions.

Results

Carriers of ≥ 1 copy of the rs9939609 A allele were significantly more likely to have IDF-defined MetS (35.8%) than non-carriers (31.2%), corresponding to a carrier odds ratio (OR) of 1.23 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01 to 1.50), with a similar trend for the NCEP ATP III-defined MetS. Subgroup analysis showed that the association was particularly strong in men. The association was related to a higher proportion of rs9939609 A allele carriers meeting the waist circumference criterion; a higher proportion also met the HDL cholesterol criterion compared with wild-type homozygotes.

Conclusion

Thus, the FTO rs9939609 SNP was associated with an increased risk for MetS in this multi-ethnic sample, confirming that the association extends to non-Caucasian population samples.