Lucas VicuñaEsteban BarrientosTomás NorambuenaDanilo AlvaresJuan Cristobal GanaValeria Leiva-YamaguchiMeza, CristiánCristiánMezaJosé L. SantosVeronica MericqAna PereiraSusana Eyheramendy2025-12-062025-12-062023-01-3110.1016/j.isci.2023.1060912-s2.0-85150773129https://cris-uv-2.scimago.es/handle/123456789/7190WOS:000990651700001Body-mass index (BMI) is a hallmark of adiposity. In contrast with adulthood, the genetic architecture of BMI during childhood is poorly understood. The few genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on children have been performed almost exclusively in Europeans and at single ages. We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal GWAS for BMI-related traits on 904 admixed children with mostly Mapuche Native American and European ancestries. We found regulatory variants of the immune gene HLA-DQB3 strongly associated with BMI at 1.5−2.5 years old. A variant in the sex-determining gene DMRT1 was associated with the age at adiposity rebound (Age-AR) in girls (P=9.8×10−9). BMI was significantly higher in Mapuche than in Europeans between 5.5 and 16.5 years old. Finally, Age-AR was significantly lower (P=0.004) by 1.94 years and BMI at AR was significantly higher (P=0.04) by 1.2 kg/m2, in Mapuche children compared with Europeans.enacceso abiertoMultidisciplinary SciencesMultidisciplinaryarticle