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BACKGROUND: Our aim was to identify genetic variants associated with blood pressure (BP) in childhood and adolescence. METHODS AND RESULTS: Genome-wide association study data from participating European ancestry cohorts of the Early Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) Consortium was meta-analyzed across 3 epochs; prepuberty (4-7 years), puberty (8-12 years), and postpuberty (13-20 years). Two novel loci were identified as having genome-wide associations with systolic BP across specific age epochs: rs1563894 (ITGA11, located in active H3K27Ac mark and transcription factor chromatin immunoprecipitation and 5'-C-phosphate-G-3' methylation site) during prepuberty (P=2.86×10(-8)) and rs872256 during puberty (P=8.67×10(-9)). Several single-nucleotide polymorphism clusters were also associated with childhood BP at P<5×10(-3). Using a P value threshold of <5×10(-3), we found some overlap in variants across the different age epochs within our study and between several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in any of the 3 epochs and adult BP-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that genetic determinants of BP act from childhood, develop over the lifecourse, and show some evidence of age-specific effects.

Original publication

DOI

10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.115.001190

Type

Journal article

Journal

Circ Cardiovasc Genet

Publication Date

06/2016

Volume

9

Pages

266 - 278

Keywords

Genome-Wide Association Study, blood pressure, children, genetic epidemiology, hypertension, prehypertension, Adolescent, Age Factors, Blood Pressure, Child, Child, Preschool, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Hypertension, Integrin alpha Chains, Male, Molecular Epidemiology, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Young Adult