ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9516-4424
Current Organisations
IT University of Copenhagen
,
Københavns Universitet
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-03-2023
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-023-05772-8
Abstract: Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being 1–6 . Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was .1 kg m –2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have lified.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2019
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-03-2018
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYY016
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 09-03-2021
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.60060
Abstract: From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions.
Publisher: S. Karger AG
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1159/000480486
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 14-04-2016
Publisher: American Diabetes Association
Date: 21-02-2023
DOI: 10.2337/DC22-2078
Abstract: The association between FTO rs9939609 and obesity is modified by physical activity (PA) and/or insulin sensitivity (IS). We aimed to assess whether these modifications are independent, to assess whether PA and/or IS modify the association between rs9939609 and cardiometabolic traits, and to elucidate underlying mechanisms. Genetic association analyses comprised up to 19,585 in iduals. PA was self-reported, and IS was defined based on inverted HOMA insulin resistance index. Functional analyses were performed in muscle biopsies from 140 men and in cultured muscle cells. The BMI-increasing effect of the FTO rs9939609 A allele was attenuated by 47% with high PA (β [SE], −0.32 [0.10] kg/m2, P = 0.0013) and by 51% with high IS (−0.31 [0.09] kg/m2, P = 0.00028). Interestingly, these interactions were essentially independent (PA, −0.20 [0.09] kg/m2, P = 0.023 IS, −0.28 [0.09] kg/m2, P = 0.0011). The rs9939609 A allele was also associated with higher all-cause mortality and certain cardiometabolic outcomes (hazard ratio, 1.07–1.20, P & 0.04), and these effects tended to be weakened by greater PA and IS. Moreover, the rs9939609 A allele was associated with higher expression of FTO in skeletal muscle tissue (0.03 [0.01], P = 0.011), and in skeletal muscle cells, we identified a physical interaction between the FTO promoter and an enhancer region encompassing rs9939609. Greater PA and IS independently reduced the effect of rs9939609 on obesity. These effects might be mediated through altered expression of FTO in skeletal muscle. Our results indicated that PA and/or other means of increasing insulin sensitivity could counteract FTO-related genetic predisposition to obesity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-019-09976-3
Abstract: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common nasopharyngeal colonizer, but can also cause life-threatening invasive diseases such as empyema, bacteremia and meningitis. Genetic variation of host and pathogen is known to play a role in invasive pneumococcal disease, though to what extent is unknown. In a genome-wide association study of human and pathogen we show that human variation explains almost half of variation in susceptibility to pneumococcal meningitis and one-third of variation in severity, identifying variants in CCDC33 associated with susceptibility. Pneumococcal genetic variation explains a large amount of invasive potential (70%), but has no effect on severity. Serotype alone is insufficient to explain invasiveness, suggesting other pneumococcal factors are involved in progression to invasive disease. We identify pneumococcal genes involved in invasiveness including pspC and zmpD , and perform a human-bacteria interaction analysis. These genes are potential candidates for the development of more broadly-acting pneumococcal vaccines.
No related grants have been discovered for Lars Ängquist.