Sex-Stratified Genetic Analyses Mapping the Influences of Sedentary Behaviors and Physical Activity on Female Reproductive Health - PubMed
an hour ago
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- #lifestyle
- #genetics
- The study conducted sex-stratified genome-wide association studies on five lifestyle factors, including leisure screen time (LST), sedentary behaviors at work and during commuting, time spent driving, and daily physical activity, using data from the UK Biobank's European participants.
- Researchers identified 18 novel sex-stratified genetic variants linked to these lifestyle factors and found that leisure screen time was more heritable in women (8.6%) compared to men (6.9%).
- Mendelian randomization analyses revealed that each additional hour of daily leisure screen time was associated with increased risks of menorrhagia, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and ectopic pregnancy, while other sedentary behaviors showed little to no effect.
- Mediation analyses indicated that the associations between leisure screen time and reproductive outcomes were largely independent of body mass index, except for polycystic ovarian syndrome.
- Nonlinear Mendelian randomization suggested that leisure screen time of four or more hours per day robustly increased the risks of endometriosis and menorrhagia, with findings validated using additional European genetic data and survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
- The study concludes that reducing sedentary behavior, particularly leisure screen time, is a simple and actionable lifestyle modification likely to benefit multiple female reproductive disorders independently.