Objective

To conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of anorexia nervosa and to calculate genetic correlations with a series of psychiatric, educational, and metabolic phenotypes.

Method

Following uniform quality control and imputation using the 1000 Genomes Project (phase 3) in 12 case-control cohorts comprising 3,495 anorexia nervosa cases and 10,982 controls, we performed standard association analysis followed by a meta-analysis across cohorts. Linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) was used to calculate genome-wide common variant heritability [h SNP 2, partitioned heritability, and genetic correlations (r g)] between anorexia nervosa and other phenotypes.

Results

Results were obtained for 10,641,224 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletion variants with minor allele frequency> 1% and imputation quality scores> 0.6. The h SNP 2 of anorexia nervosa was 0.20 (SE= 0.02), suggesting that a substantial fraction of the twin-based heritability arises from common genetic variation. We identified one genome-wide significant locus on chromosome 12 (rs4622308, p= 4.3× 10− 9) in a region harboring a previously reported type 1 diabetes and autoimmune disorder locus. Significant positive genetic correlations were observed between anorexia nervosa and schizophrenia, neuroticism, educational attainment, and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and significant negative genetic correlations between anorexia nervosa and body mass index, insulin, glucose, and lipid phenotypes.

Conclusions

Anorexia nervosa is a complex heritable phenotype for which we have found the first genome-wide significant locus. Anorexia nervosa also has large and significant genetic correlations with both psychiatric phenotypes and metabolic traits. Our results encourage a reconceptualization of this frequently lethal disorder as one with both psychiatric and metabolic etiology.