Fig. 5

Summary of DNA methylation components relevant to waist circumference (z-score by sex) measured at ages 7, 9, 10, and 11 years (rows). Only components ranked as relevant at least once for this outcome are included. The legend shows the ages at which DNA methylation data was collected. The coloured text of component axis labels corresponds to the related dimension, as seen in Fig. 2. The results of Components 1–6 and 10 are not discussed as they demonstrate strong relations with confounders. The boxes with hashes indicate components that demonstrated the same relation to phenotype in DNAm data collected at more than one age. In other words, these hashed boxes indicate relations that persisted over time. Looking down the columns, we see that half the components that were related to waist circumference measured at a younger age would continue this association to age 11 years (i.e. coloured boxes are stacked vertically together). If the relation between DNAm components and future phenotype were due to chance or technical artefacts, this consistency as the phenotypic and molecular clocks ticked would be less likely. Results for other outcomes are in Additional file 2