Researchers have\u00a0quantified\u00a0the role of obesity in\u00a0common\u00a0long-term conditions,\u00a0showing\u00a0for the first time the effect of losing weight in preventing\u00a0multiple diseases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conditions that often occur together may share an underlying cause, which can be key to prevention or treatment.\u00a0The picture of which conditions co-occur is complex, so researchers paired them together, to allow them to\u00a0identify\u00a0shared causes more simply.\u00a0The\u00a0study\u00a0found that\u00a0obesity\u00a0is\u00a0the main\u00a0shared\u00a0cause\u00a0between\u00a0ten pairs of commonly occurring conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0research\u00a0specifically\u00a0measured how much\u00a0weight\u00a0reduction would reduce the risk of\u00a0the\u00a0next diagnosis<\/a>.\u00a0In the largest study of its kind,\u00a0published in\u00a0Communications Medicine – Nature,\u00a0the\u00a0team led by the University of Exeter\u00a0Medical School\u00a0studied\u00a071\u00a0conditions which often occur together, such as type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis, or\u00a0kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0GEMINI study, funded by the UKRI\u00a0Medical Research Council\u00a0and supported by the\u00a0National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR),\u00a0used\u00a0genetics and\u00a0healthcare data\u00a0drawn from\u00a0a number of\u00a0large datasets internationally.\u00a0They\u00a0found\u00a0that\u00a0obesity was\u00a0part of the cause\u00a0for\u00a061\u00a0of the 71 conditions.\u00a0They\u00a0also\u00a0found that obesity explained\u00a0all of\u00a0the\u00a0genetic\u00a0overlap in ten pairs of conditions, suggesting it is the main driver for why they\u00a0frequently\u00a0occur together.\u00a0<\/p>\n Body mass index, or\u00a0BMI,\u00a0is a\u00a0scaled\u00a0measure of\u00a0weight\u00a0\u2013 a\u00a0number over 30 units\u00a0indicates\u00a0obesity, while less than 25\u00a0indicates\u00a0“normal”\u00a0weight.\u00a0The study\u00a0quantified\u00a0how much\u00a0a reduction in BMI\u00a0would reduce\u00a0the\u00a0risk of both conditions\u00a0at a population level for\u00a0people overweight or living with obesity.\u00a0For example, for\u00a0every thousand people who have both chronic kidney disease and\u00a0osteoarthritis,\u00a0a BMI reduction of 4.5 units would\u00a0have\u00a0prevented\u00a017\u00a0of them\u00a0developing both\u00a0conditions\u00a0or\u00a0nine\u00a0people per thousand\u00a0with\u00a0type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team also\u00a0established\u00a0the pairs of conditions where obesity is not the main\u00a0cause and\u00a0are now investigating other mechanisms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n We’ve\u00a0long known that certain diseases often occur together,\u00a0and also\u00a0that obesity increases\u00a0the\u00a0risk\u00a0of many diseases. This largescale study is the first to\u00a0use genetics to\u00a0quantify the role of\u00a0obesity\u00a0in\u00a0causing diseases to\u00a0occur\u00a0in the same individuals. We found that\u00a0for some disease pairings, obesity\u00a0is the\u00a0major\u00a0driving force.\u00a0Our\u00a0research provides much more detail about\u00a0the\u00a0links between obesity and\u00a0disease,\u00a0which\u00a0will\u00a0help clinicians\u00a0target specific\u00a0advice to\u00a0patients\u00a0going forward.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Professor Jack Bowden, Study Lead,\u00a0University of Exeter Medical School<\/p>\n
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Study author Professor Jane Masoli, of the University of Exeter Medical School, who is a Consultant Geriatrician\u00a0and regional NIHR Ageing lead, said: “Currently nine million people in the UK\u00a0live with two or more long-term conditions.\u00a0Understanding how to prevent diseases accumulating\u00a0is a key national research\u00a0and healthcare\u00a0priority.\u00a0This study\u00a0further strengthens the case to tackle obesity through public health\u00a0programmes,\u00a0reinforcing the importance of\u00a0lifelong\u00a0obesity management in the NHS strategy on prevention.\u00a0Our work shows\u00a0that this\u00a0could reduce the risk\u00a0of accumulating multiple health conditions,\u00a0supporting people to live longer, healthier\u00a0lives.”\u00a0<\/p>\n This research\u00a0represents\u00a0another important publication from\u00a0the\u00a0GEMINI (Genetic Evaluation of Multimorbidity towards\u00a0INdividualisation\u00a0of Interventions) collaborative.\u00a0Led by the University of Exeter,\u00a0GEMINI\u00a0includes people with multimorbidity, health care professionals including those in primary care and experts in statistics and genetics, and was one of\u00a0six\u00a0programmes funded by the UKRI strategic priorities fund, an \u00a3830\u00a0million\u00a0investment in\u00a0multimorbidity research.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0GEMINI\u00a0team\u00a0are working to\u00a0further understand why some conditions more\u00a0frequently\u00a0co-occur in the same patients.\u00a0The team\u00a0are\u00a0quantifying\u00a0the role of other, known modifiable risk factors\u00a0beyond obesity, and\u00a0are finding\u00a0novel genes and pathways that could point to\u00a0new ways to intervene and\u00a0improve health.\u00a0GEMINI\u00a0data, results,\u00a0and code\u00a0are free to download\u00a0(https:\/\/github.com\/GEMINI-multimorbidity),\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0pairwise<\/a> genetic and observational correlations can be viewed interactively (https:\/\/gemini-multimorbidity.shinyapps.io\/atlas\/).\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The study was supported by\u00a0NIHR through: The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre\u00a0(BRC);\u00a0IHR Applied Research Collaboration\u00a0South West\u00a0Peninsula;\u00a0<\/strong>the\u00a0NIHR\u00a0Healthtech\u00a0Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation;\u00a0the NIHR Leicester\u00a0BRC and NIHR Oxford BRC, and and NIHR Advanced Fellowship.\u00a0<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n Journal reference:<\/p>\n
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