Sharply increased mortality among black females at older ages because of "genetic obesity"

Longevity could be the single most important indicator of overall human health. Genetic inheritance is critically important for differences in longevity across species. Drawing on more than 10,000 genetic samples from the... [ view full abstract ]

Longevity could be the single most important indicator of overall human health. Genetic inheritance is critically important for differences in longevity across species. Drawing on more than 10,000 genetic samples from the Health and Retirement Study, we investigate the association of “genetic obesity” (measured using polygenic scores constructed based on findings of a recent genome-wide association study) and all-cause mortality in four different racial and gender groups (white males, white females, black males, and black females) in the United States. We find that “genetic obesity” is only significantly associated with all-cause mortality among black females, but not among other three racial and gender groups. Black females who are in the category of “genetic obesity” experienced a mortality rate at ages 50 or older twice as high as those who are in the “normal” category.  We found evidence that the association between “genetic obesity” and all-cause mortality is significantly greater among black females with lower education level than those with higher education level. In addition, the sharply heightened mortality among black females among the “genetically obese” tend to be in the group of those who are aged 50 and 65.