In a study of associations between ADIPOQ variants and adiponectin levels and obesity phenotypes in 2,968 African-American participants, rs6444174 was found to be associated with serum adiponectin levels in female participants (p = 6.15 × 10−5), and with BMI in all normal-weight participants (p = 3.66 × 10−4). Here, ADIPOQ is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.