Böhmer AC, Hecker J, Schröder J, et al. - Researchers examined the shared genetic background of Barrett's esophagus (BE)/esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and obesity-associated traits to promote understanding of biological factors that result in progression from BE to EA. They implemented cross-trait linkage disequilibrium score regression to summary statistics from genome-wide association meta-analyses on BE/EA and on obesity characteristics. A significant genetic association between BMI and BE/EA and a r_g of 0.12 between waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and BE/EA was shown in sex-combined analyses. A pronounced genetic correlation between BMI and EA in women and WHR and EA in men was seen in sex-specific analyses. Sex-specific genetic correlations that might indicate particular biological mechanisms were revealed in this study. Overall, there is a particular relevance of shared genetic factors in progression from BE to EA.