A multi-ancestry polygenic risk score for body mass index predicts longitudinal weight change.

A multi-ancestry polygenic risk score predicts future weight gain with 7.05% variance explained and consistent effects across diverse genetic groups.

• Why it matters: Understanding genetic predisposition to weight gain can improve early identification and prevention of obesity, especially in diverse populations where traditional risk factors may be less reliable.
• What they did: Researchers developed an ancestry-specific genome-wide association study meta-analysis and trained a multi-ancestry polygenic risk score using nearly 40,000 individuals, then validated it in over 78,000 participants with repeated weight measurements.
• The result: The MAPRS was associated with increased future BMI and higher odds of significant weight gain, outperforming most clinical risk factors and enabling more targeted, genetically informed obesity prevention efforts.