The Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Associated DRD4 7R Allele Predicts Household Economic Status but Not Nutritional Status in Northern Kenyan Rendille Children

IF 1.6 4区医学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY

American Journal of Human Biology Pub Date : 2025-03-10 DOI:10.1002/ajhb.70027

Amanda E. Kunkle, Robert L. Tennyson, Katherine Wander, Bettina Shell-Duncan, Dan T. A. Eisenberg

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

Around 11% of U.S. children are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One hypothesis for ADHD's relatively high prevalence is that behaviors associated with ADHD were advantageous in past environments where they were positively selected for. A previous study showed that an allele associated with ADHD—the 7R allele of the gene encoding the D(4) dopamine receptor (DRD4)—had a positive effect on the nutritional status of nomadic adult Ariaal men and a negative effect on settled adult men. We attempted to replicate this finding by analyzing the impact of DRD4 7R on children's nutrition and other household metrics in the Rendille, a population closely related to the Ariaal.

Methods

We genotyped 259 Rendille children aged 5–10 years for DRD4 7R and analyzed this against previously collected anthropometric and household data from two Rendille towns. Analyses were pre-registered (https://osf.io/p8yv2/) before the addition of the 7R genotype to the dataset.

Results

DRD4 7R was not associated with iron nutrition, indicated by transferrin receptor (TfR) concentration, height-for-age (HAZ) or weight-for-height Z-scores (WHZ), or with maternal education status. However, DRD4 7R was positively associated with household economic status (p = 0.047).

Conclusions

The failure to replicate an association between DRD4 7R and nutritional status might be due to this sample being of children who are not yet substantially provisioning themselves. Given that children's genotypes are correlated with parents' genotypes, it is likely that the effects of the parents' genotypes, rather than the participating children's, explain the association between children's DRD4 7R genotype and household economic success.

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来源期刊

American Journal of Human Biology 生物-生物学

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

13.80%

发文量

124

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： The American Journal of Human Biology is the Official Journal of the Human Biology Association. The American Journal of Human Biology is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed, internationally circulated journal that publishes reports of original research, theoretical articles and timely reviews, and brief communications in the interdisciplinary field of human biology. As the official journal of the Human Biology Association, the Journal also publishes abstracts of research presented at its annual scientific meeting and book reviews relevant to the field. The Journal seeks scholarly manuscripts that address all aspects of human biology, health, and disease, particularly those that stress comparative, developmental, ecological, or evolutionary perspectives. The transdisciplinary areas covered in the Journal include, but are not limited to, epidemiology, genetic variation, population biology and demography, physiology, anatomy, nutrition, growth and aging, physical performance, physical activity and fitness, ecology, and evolution, along with their interactions. The Journal publishes basic, applied, and methodologically oriented research from all areas, including measurement, analytical techniques and strategies, and computer applications in human biology. Like many other biologically oriented disciplines, the field of human biology has undergone considerable growth and diversification in recent years, and the expansion of the aims and scope of the Journal is a reflection of this growth and membership diversification. The Journal is committed to prompt review, and priority publication is given to manuscripts with novel or timely findings, and to manuscripts of unusual interest.