Socioeconomic Disparities in Childhood Obesity Risk: Association With an Oxytocin Receptor Polymorphism

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this observational study publication.

To examine whether an OT receptor polymorphism (rs53576) interacts with SES, potentially exacerbating and buffering the effects of stress, to predict anthropometry during childhood, and based on differential neurobiological susceptibility theory, to test whether carriers of the A allele of the OXTR gene, compared with GG genotyped individuals, would be most sensitive to the effects of SES on anthropometry for better or for worse.

Why It Was Studied

Low SES is a robust predictor of obesity across the life course and may interact with genes affecting metabolism to influence obesity risk.

To date, this association has not been examined in children.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are children, both men and women.

In this observational study, families were recruited from public school classrooms and enrolled in the Peers and Wellness Study (PAWS), which examined the effects of social status on health.

Families were assessed during children's kindergarten year (fall semester of 2003, 2004, and 2005) and again during middle childhood (2009-2011) for a follow-up assessment that included anthropometric measures and DNA collection.

How the Study Was Run

The dates of the analysis were January 2015 to June 2016.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Alleles, Anthropometry, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Pediatric Obesity, Receptors, Oxytocin and Risk Factors.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Oxytocin.

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2017 (JAMA pediatrics), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.