Biomedical subjects

Teemu Palviainen

Publications and source records attributed to Teemu Palviainen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Genome-wide association meta-analysis of eating behavior traits revealed one susceptibility locus for emotional eating.

In order to identify new and genome-wide significant loci for eating behavior traits (cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating), we conducted a meta-GWAS with seven studies of European ancestry (n = 11,250). Eating behavior was assessed using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire. Genotype effects of single studies were estimated using additive models adjusting for age, sex, BMI, and principal components and single study results were combined by fixed-effect meta-analysis.For cognitive restraint and uncontrolled eating, no genome-wide significant association could be detected. For emotional eating, one genomic region on chromosome 5 comprising two polymorphisms attained genome-wide significance (P = 4.0×10-8 for rs6877636 and P = 3.2×10-8 for rs6897090). The minor alleles were associated with higher emotional eating scores (β=0.093 ± 0.017), with a similar direction of effect in each study. Both SNPs, in near perfect linkage disequilibrium, mapped to RP11-24P24.1, a processed pseudogene of ornithine decarboxylase 1 (ODC1). Enrichment analysis revealed a significant overlap between genome-wide BMI-associated variants and nominal emotional eating variants, supporting the hypothesis that shared genetic factors may influence both eating behavior traits and obesity risk. Finally, we observed a number of interesting associations reaching suggestive significance (P < 10-6) involving BMI candidate genes, including a suggestive association between FTO variants and cognitive restraint (rs9922708, β = 0.069, P = 5.9×10-7).In conclusion, our meta-GWAS identified for the first time a robust chromosomal region associated with emotional eating in seven studies. Given that emotional eating strongly influences body weight but is often stigmatized, recognizing genetic susceptibility to certain eating behaviors may help reduce stigma and alleviate guilt.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality.

Personality traits describe stable differences in how people think, feel and behave, and how they interact with and experience their social and physical environments1,2. Many questions remain unanswered about associations between DNA and personality traits, such as their robustness, their generalizability and the biological and social pathways through which they act. Here we meta-analyse data across 46 cohorts comprising 611,037 to 1.14 million participants with European-like and African-like genomes for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), and data from up to 50,725 participants for within-family GWAS. We identify 1,260 lead genetic variants associated with personality, including 824 novel variants3. Common genetic variants explain a moderate 4.8-9.3% of the variance in measures of each trait, and 9.3-13.3% among instruments with typical measurement reliability. Genetic associations with personality are highly consistent but not identical across geography, reporter (self versus close other), age group and measurement instrument, and we find minimal spousal assortment for personality in recent history. In contrast to many other social and behavioural traits4,5, within-family GWAS and polygenic index analyses indicate that genetic associations with personality are minimally confounded by the shared family environment. Polygenic prediction, genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization analyses indicate that personality traits have widespread, potentially causal associations with consequential behaviours and life outcomes. Overall, we find that the genetic architecture of personality is robustly generalizable, minimally confounded and widely relevant to human experience.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Genomic meta-analyses of binge-eating behavior and anorexia nervosa yield insights into the unique and shared biology of eating disorder phenotypes.

Eating disorders-including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder-are clinically distinct but exhibit symptom overlap and diagnostic crossover. Genomic analyses have mostly examined AN. Here we conducted a genomic meta-analysis of case-control studies of binge-eating behavior (BE; 39,279 cases, 1,227,436 controls), alongside analyses of AN (24,223 cases, 1,243,971 controls) and its subtypes (all European ancestries). We identified six BE-associated loci, including loci associated with a higher body mass index and impulse-control behaviors. AN genome-wide association studies yielded eight loci, validating six loci. Subsequent polygenic risk score analysis demonstrated an association with AN in two East Asian ancestry studies. BE and AN exhibited similar positive genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders but opposing genetic correlations with anthropometric traits. Most of the genetic signal in BE and AN was not shared with body mass index. We have extended eating disorder genomics beyond AN; future work will incorporate multiple diagnoses and global ancestries.

Behavioural genetics↗

PubMed2026

Evaluating a Genome-Wide Polygenic Score for Handgrip Strength and Its Interplay with Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the IGEMS Twin Cohorts.

PURPOSE: Polygenic scores (PGSs) may help assess genetic predisposition to multifactorial traits. We examined whether age, sex, and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) modify the association between a PGS for handgrip strength (HGS) and measured HGS in older adults. METHODS: PGS for HGS (PGS hgs) , based on Pan-UK Biobank genome-wide association study data, was calculated for 5103 participants (aged 40-96; 44% women) from eight twin cohorts in Denmark, Sweden, Australia, the United States, and Finland within the IGEMS consortium. Sex-standardized HGS and self-reported LTPA were assessed cross-sectionally. Linear mixed models estimated associations between PGS hgs and HGS, including interactions with age, country, and LTPA, as well as an association between PGS hgs and LTPA. Fixed-effect within-pair models were conducted to assess environmental contributions. RESULTS: Higher PGS hgs was associated with greater HGS (β = 2.14, SE = 0.15, P < 0.001), explaining 4.6% of HGS variance overall, with modest variation across countries. In sex-stratified models, PGS hgs explained 5.2% of the variance in females and 4.3% in males. No statistically significant interaction with age was found. A significant PGS hgs × LTPA interaction (β = -0.034, P = 0.013) indicated that the association between LTPA and HGS was more pronounced among individuals with lower PGS hgs . The within-pair models offered limited support for the independent environmental impact of LTPA. CONCLUSIONS: The PGS hgs was associated with measured HGS in the meta-analysis, highlighting the potential of PGSs to capture individual differences in strength-related traits across populations. The association of PGS hgs with HGS was moderated by LTPA, such that the beneficial impact of LTPA on HGS was greater among individuals with a lower genetic propensity for HGS.

Humans↗

PubMed2025

Genome-wide association studies of binge eating behaviour and anorexia nervosa yield insights into the unique and shared biology of eating disorder phenotypes.

Eating disorders -including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder-are clinically distinct but exhibit symptom overlap and diagnostic crossover. Genomic analyses have mostly examined AN. We conducted the first genomic meta-analysis of binge eating behaviour (BE; 39,279 cases, 1,227,436 controls), alongside new analyses of AN (24,223 cases, 1,243,971 controls) and its subtypes (all European ancestries). We identified six loci associated with BE, including loci associated with higher body mass index (BMI) and impulse-control behaviours. AN GWAS yielded eight loci, validating six loci. Subsequent polygenic risk score analysis demonstrated an association with AN in two East Asian ancestry cohorts. BE and AN exhibited similar positive genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders, but opposing genetic correlations with anthropometric traits. Most of the genetic signal in BE and AN was not shared with BMI. We have extended eating disorder genomics beyond AN; future work will incorporate multiple diagnoses and global ancestries.

Journal Article↗