Approved Research

The causal effect of obesity on occupational attainment

Lay summary

Aims: This research will provide further understandings of the causal relationship between occupational attainment (OA), using individual-level data and brain imaging data in the UK biobank and Mendelian randomization method to precisely estimate the effects.

Scientific rationale: It is well-established that obesity has a positive effect on OA. However, the existing studies assessing the causal effect of obesity on OA mainly use observational data, the estimates result are easily be biased due to the confounding factors (such as parental education) and reversed causality. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) launched by UK Biobank provide biologically causal pathways to shed light on the truly causal estimates of obesity on OA.

Project duration: This research will last for 24 months to fully investigate the obesity-OA causal relationship.

Public health impact: Findings will help to improve the understanding of the biologically causal role of obesity on OA, and to provide precise evidence for policymakers for public health interventions of weight reduction.