Debbie A Lawlor

TL;DR: A genome-wide search for type 2 diabetes–susceptibility genes identified a common variant in the FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) gene that predisposes to diabetes through an effect on body mass index (BMI).

TL;DR: A meta-analysis of individual records of diabetes, fasting blood glucose concentration, and other risk factors in people without initial vascular disease from studies in the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration found diabetes confers about a two-fold excess risk for a wide range of vascular diseases, independently from other conventional risk factors.

TL;DR: Genetic loci associated with body mass index map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor, which may provide new insights into human body weight regulation.

TL;DR: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a transgenerational prospective observational study investigating influences on health and development across the life course and is currently set up as a supported access resource.

TL;DR: The use of germline genetic variants that proxy for environmentally modifiable exposures as instruments for these exposures is one form of IV analysis that can be implemented within observational epidemiological studies and can be considered as analogous to randomized controlled trials.