This study aimed to investigate the association between fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in older Iranian adults, addressing the limited data available for older populations in the Middle East.

 We analyzed 2,192 older adults from the Bushehr Elderly Health program in southern Iran. T2DM was defined using American Diabetes Association ADA criteria. The Illumina Global Screening Array was used to genotype FTO SNPs. In our analysis, 1,146 SNPs were examined for association with type 2 diabetes using generalized linear models under additive, dominant, and recessive models, controlling for age and sex, following quality control and linkage disequilibrium pruning. False discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied, with significance set at P_FDR < 0.05