Given the anthropometric differences between men and women and previous evidence of sex-difference in genetic effects,
we conducted a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic associations with height, weight, body mass index, waist
circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio (133,723 individuals) and took forward 348 SNPs into follow-up
(additional 137,052 individuals) in a total of 94 studies. Seven loci displayed significant sex-difference (FDR,5%), including
four previously established (near GRB14/COBLL1, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, VEGFA, ADAMTS9) and three novel anthropometric trait
loci (near MAP3K1, HSD17B4, PPARG), all of which were genome-wide significant in women (P,561028
), but not in men.
Sex-differences were apparent only for waist phenotypes, not for height, weight, BMI, or hip circumference. Moreover, we
found no evidence for genetic effects with opposite directions in men versus women. The PPARG locus is of specific interest
due to its role in diabetes genetics and therapy. Our results demonstrate the value of sex-specific GWAS to unravel the
sexually dimorphic genetic underpinning of complex traits.