Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/227198 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 13671
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use data from the The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how the the effect of individuals' genetic predisposition to higher BMI —measured by BMI polygenic scores— changes over the life-cycle for several cohorts. We find that the effect of BMI polygenic scores on BMI increases significantly as teenagers transition into adulthood (using the Add Health cohort, born 1974-83). However, this is not the case for individuals aged 55+ who were born in earlier HRS cohorts (1931-53), whose life-cycle pattern of genetic influence on BMI is remarkably stable as they move into old-age.
Subjects: 
obesity
BMI polygenic scores
Add Health
Health and Retirement Study
JEL: 
I1
I14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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