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Rs9939609 polymorphism of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and metabolic syndrome susceptibility in the Chinese population: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

The relationship between the rs9939609 allele of fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and metabolic syndrome (MS) susceptibility has been evaluated by many studies, however, the results still remained controversial in the Chinese population. In order to provide more accurate results, we performed this meta-analysis.

Methods

We searched PubMed, and Wanfang Med Online in both English and Chinese, and eight eligible studies comprising of 5345 cases and 9523 controls were eventually selected into our meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was performed using the STATA 12.0 software.

Results

In pooled analysis, the FTO gene rs9939609 polymorphism significantly increased MS susceptibility under per-allele comparisons (A vs. T) (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.10–1.35, P < 0.001) and in dominant model (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13–1.62, P < 0.001). Subgroup analyses under per-allele comparisons (A vs. T) indicated that the elevated risk was observed in adults (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.08–1.47, P = 0.003) but not in children and adolescents (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.95–1.36, P = 0.17), and that the risk for increasing MS was only identified in IDF groups (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.03–1.43, P = 0.018) but not in NCEP ATP III groups (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.95–1.36, P = 0.17); in both population-based (PB) and hospital-based (HB) groups, A alleles of rs9939609 appeared to be linked to increased MS susceptibilities (HB group: OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.10–2.08, P = 0.01; PB group: OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.09–1.30, P < 0.001). No significant association was established in dominant model subgroup analyses except PB group (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.05–1.53, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our results suggested that the FTO gene rs9939609 polymorphism significantly increased MS susceptibility in Chinese. Our results should be verified by well-designed studies with larger sample size.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Nos. 2019CFB405 and 2016CFB212), Hubei Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission (No. WJ2019Q054).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Dong Wang, Zhihong Wu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Wuhan No.1 Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Dong Wang & Jun Zhou

  2. Department of Rheumatology, Wuhan No.1 Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Zhihong Wu

  3. Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory for Applied Toxicology, Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan, China

    Xiaotian Zhang

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  1. Dong Wang
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Correspondence to Jun Zhou or Xiaotian Zhang.

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Wang, D., Wu, Z., Zhou, J. et al. Rs9939609 polymorphism of the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and metabolic syndrome susceptibility in the Chinese population: a meta-analysis. Endocrine 69, 278–285 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02280-x

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