@article {12383, title = {Gender and the Subjective Well-Being of Older Widows and Widowers.}, journal = {The International Journal of Aging and Human Development}, year = {2023}, abstract = {

Previous research on older adults who are widowed often focuses on the immediate subjective impacts of spousal loss, and how gender might influence this. Our interest here is on the factors that influence subjective well-being after a period of at least two years{\textquoteright} post-bereavement, and how this might differ for men and women. We draw on theoretical considerations from previous research on gender and on widowhood and use two different measures-life satisfaction and happiness-to assess possible differences in this subjective outcome. We used data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study on 692 widowed adults aged 65 and over (578 females and 114 males) and employed regression and postestimation analyses to examine whether and how gender influences their subjective well-being. Our findings show that gender did not affect overall levels of subjective well-being, regardless of measure. However, gender did influence the predictors, such as total household income, total wealth, and social support from children and friends, for life satisfaction and happiness somewhat differently. Our study highlights the importance of examining gender differences among older widows and widowers and also underlines the importance of introducing different measures of subjective well-being that might yield different yet valuable findings.

}, keywords = {gender repertoires, Happiness, inequalities, Life Satisfaction}, issn = {1541-3535}, doi = {10.1177/00914150221092990}, author = {Geng, Jing and Calasanti, Toni M} } @article {13188, title = {Gender of study partners and research participants associated with differences in study partner ratings of cognition and activity level.}, journal = {J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Feb 15}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Studies of Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (AD) typically include "study partners" (SPs) who report on participants{\textquoteright} cognition and function. Prior studies show SP reports differ depending on the relationship between the SP and participant, that is, spouse or adult child. Adult children SPs are typically female. Could differing reports be due to gender? Knowing this may help explain variability in measurement.

METHODS: The Aging, Demographics and Memory Study (ADAMS) enrolled a subset of participants from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Each participant had a SP. Bivariate and multivariable regression models compared 718 SP-participant dyads.

RESULTS: In analyses of four groups defined by SP and participant gender, dyads composed of two women were less likely to identify as White (75.8\%, 95\%CI 70.4 to 80.5) than dyads composed of two men (93.3\%, 95\%CI 81.2 to 97.8). In analyses adjusted for severity of cognitive and functional impairment, women SPs rated women participants as more active than they rated men, mean 2.15 (95\%CI, 2.07 to 2.22) versus mean 2.30 (95\%CI, 2.24 to 2.37), respectively, on a 4-point scale. Similarly, men SPs rated women participants as more active than they rated men, mean 2.1 (95\%CI, 2.0 to 2.2) and mean 2.4 (95\%CI, 2.3 to 2.5), respectively. In an analysis of cognitively unimpaired participants, women SPs rated participants{\textquoteright} memory worse than men SPs did (p<0.05).

DISCUSSION: SP and participant gender influence SPs{\textquoteright} reports of another person{\textquoteright}s cognition and activity level. Our findings expand what is understood about how non-disease factors influence measures of disease severity.

}, keywords = {activity level, Cognition, gender}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbad026}, author = {Stites, Shana D and Gurian, Anna and Coykendall, Cameron and Largent, Emily A and Harkins, Kristin and Karlawish, Jason and Coe, Norma B} } @article {13227, title = {A genome-wide association study of frailty identifies significant genetic correlation with neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, and inflammation pathways.}, journal = {Geroscience}, year = {2023}, abstract = {

Frailty is an aging-related clinical phenotype defined as a state in which there is an increase in a person{\textquoteright}s vulnerability for dependency and/or mortality when exposed to a stressor. While underlying mechanisms leading to the occurrence of frailty are complex, the importance of genetic factors has not been fully investigated. We conducted a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) of frailty, as defined by the five criteria (weight loss, exhaustion, physical activity, walking speed, and grip strength) captured in the Fried Frailty Score (FFS), in 386,565 European descent participants enrolled in the UK Biobank (mean age 57 [SD 8] years, 208,481 [54\%] females). We identified 37 independent, novel loci associated with the FFS (p < 5 {\texttimes} 10), including seven loci without prior described associations with other traits. The variants associated with FFS were significantly enriched in brain tissues as well as aging-related pathways. Our post-GWAS bioinformatic analyses revealed significant genetic correlations between FFS and cardiovascular-, neurological-, and inflammation-related diseases/traits, and subsequent Mendelian Randomization analyses identified causal associations with chronic pain, obesity, diabetes, education-related traits, joint disorders, and depressive/neurological, metabolic, and respiratory diseases. The GWAS signals were replicated in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, n = 9,720, mean age 73 [SD 7], 5,582 [57\%] females), where the polygenic risk score built from UKB GWAS was significantly associated with the FFS in HRS individuals (OR per SD of the score 1.27, 95\% CI 1.22-1.31, p = 1.3 {\texttimes} 10). These results provide new insight into the biology of frailty by comprehensively evaluating its genetic architecture.

}, keywords = {genome-wide. cardiovascular, Inflammation, neuropsychiatric}, issn = {2509-2723}, doi = {10.1007/s11357-023-00771-z}, author = {Ye, Yixuan and Noche, Rommell B and Szejko, Natalia and Both, Cameron P and Acosta, Julian N and Leasure, Audrey C and Brown, Stacy C and Sheth, Kevin N and Gill, Thomas M and Zhao, Hongyu and Falcone, Guido J} } @article {12703, title = {Gender, Age of Migration, and Cognitive Life Expectancies among Older Latinos: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study.}, journal = {The Journals of Gerontology, Series B }, volume = {77}, year = {2022}, pages = {e226-e233}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: Migration and gender are important factors that differentiate the Latino immigrant experience in the United States. We investigate the association between nativity status, age of migration, and cognitive life expectancies among a nationally representative sample of Latino adults aged 50 and older to explore whether age of migration and gender influence cognitive aging across the life course.

METHODS: This study used data from the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2016) to estimate Sullivan-based life tables of cognitive life expectancies by nativity, age of migration, and gender for older Latino adults. Cognitive status was based on the Langa-Weir (LW) algorithm. We test for both within-group (i.e., nativity and age of migration) and gender differences to explore the overall burden of disease among this rapidly growing population.

RESULTS: Foreign-born Latinos, regardless of age of migration or gender, spend a greater number of years after age 50 with cognitive impairment/no dementia than U.S.-born Latinos. However, the number of years spent with dementia varied by subgroup with mid-life immigrant men and late-life immigrant men and women exhibiting a significant disadvantage relative to the U.S.-born. Furthermore, we document a gender disadvantage for all Latino women, regardless of immigrant status.

DISCUSSION: The robust relationship between nativity, age of migration, and cognitive aging suggests that older foreign-born Latinos experiencing cognitive decline may place serious burdens on families. Future research should target the needs of different subgroups of older Latinos who are entering their last decades of life to develop culturally appropriate long-term care programs.

}, keywords = {cognitive aging, Migration and the Life-course, race and ethnicity}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbac133}, author = {Garcia, Marc A and Tarraf, Wassim and Reyes, Adriana M and Chiu, Chi-Tsun} } @article {13094, title = {The Gender Gap in Household Bargaining Power: A Revealed-Preference Approach}, year = {2022}, address = {Paris, France}, abstract = {When members of the same household have different risk preferences, whose preference matters more for investment decisions and why? We propose an intrahousehold model that aggregates individual preferences at the household level as a result of bargaining. We structurally estimate the model, analyze the determinants of bargaining power, and find a significant gender gap. The gap is partially explained by gender differences in individual characteristics such as income and employment, but it is also driven by gender effects. These patterns hold broadly across Australia, Germany, and the US. We further link the distribution of bargaining power to perceived gender norms in the cross-section of households}, keywords = {gender gap}, url = {https://www.weilongzhang.com/uploads/1/2/3/7/123776250/intrahh_v17.pdf}, author = {Ran Gu and Cameron Peng and Weilong Zhang} } @article {12707, title = {Genome-wide meta-analyses reveal novel loci for verbal short-term memory and learning.}, journal = {Molecular Psychiatry}, year = {2022}, abstract = {

Understanding the genomic basis of memory processes may help in combating neurodegenerative disorders. Hence, we examined the associations of common genetic variants with verbal short-term memory and verbal learning in adults without dementia or stroke (N = 53,637). We identified novel loci in the intronic region of CDH18, and at 13q21 and 3p21.1, as well as an expected signal in the APOE/APOC1/TOMM40 region. These results replicated in an independent sample. Functional and bioinformatic analyses supported many of these loci and further implicated POC1. We showed that polygenic score for verbal learning associated with brain activation in right parieto-occipital region during working memory task. Finally, we showed genetic correlations of these memory traits with several neurocognitive and health outcomes. Our findings suggest a role of several genomic loci in verbal memory processes.

}, keywords = {Genome, health outcomes, Memory, neurocognitive outcomes, polygenic score, Verbal Learning}, issn = {1476-5578}, doi = {10.1038/s41380-022-01710-8}, author = {Lahti, Jari and Tuominen, Samuli and Yang, Qiong and Pergola, Giulio and Ahmad, Shahzad and Amin, Najaf and Armstrong, Nicola J and Beiser, Alexa and Bey, Katharina and Bis, Joshua C and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bressler, Jan and Campbell, Archie and Campbell, Harry and Chen, Qiang and Corley, Janie and Cox, Simon R and Davies, Gail and De Jager, Philip L and Derks, Eske M and Jessica Faul and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Fohner, Alison E and Ford, Ian and Fornage, Myriam and Gerring, Zachary and Grabe, Hans J and Grodstein, Francine and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Simonsick, Eleanor and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Joshi, Peter K and Kajantie, Eero and Kaprio, Jaakko and Karell, Pauliina and Kleineidam, Luca and Knol, Maria J and Kochan, Nicole A and Kwok, John B and Leber, Markus and Lam, Max and Lee, Teresa and Li, Shuo and Loukola, Anu and Luck, Tobias and Marioni, Riccardo E and Mather, Karen A and Medland, Sarah and Mirza, Saira S and Nalls, Mike A and Nho, Kwangsik and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Adrienne and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Painter, Jodie and Pattie, Alison and Reppermund, Simone and Risacher, Shannon L and Rose, Richard J and Sadashivaiah, Vijay and Scholz, Markus and Satizabal, Claudia L and Schofield, Peter W and Schraut, Katharina E and Scott, Rodney J and Simino, Jeannette and Smith, Albert V and Smith, Jennifer A and Stott, David J and Surakka, Ida and Teumer, Alexander and Thalamuthu, Anbupalam and Trompet, Stella and Turner, Stephen T and van der Lee, Sven J and Villringer, Arno and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Wilson, Robert S and Wittfeld, Katharina and Vuoksimaa, Eero and Xia, Rui and Yaffe, Kristine and Yu, Lei and Zare, Habil and Zhao, Wei and Ames, David and Attia, John and Bennett, David A and Brodaty, Henry and Chasman, Daniel I and Goldman, Aaron L and Hayward, Caroline and Ikram, M Arfan and Jukema, J Wouter and Sharon L R Kardia and Lencz, Todd and Loeffler, Markus and Mattay, Venkata S and Palotie, Aarno and Psaty, Bruce M and Ramirez, Alfredo and Ridker, Paul M and Riedel-Heller, Steffi G and Sachdev, Perminder S and Saykin, Andrew J and Scherer, Martin and Schofield, Peter R and Sidney, Stephen and Starr, John M and Trollor, Julian and Ulrich, William and Wagner, Michael and David R Weir and Wilson, James F and Wright, Margaret J and Weinberger, Daniel R and Debette, St{\'e}phanie and Eriksson, Johan G and Mosley, Thomas H and Launer, Lenore J and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Deary, Ian J and Seshadri, Sudha and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri} } @article {11572, title = {Gateway to Global Aging Data: Resources for Cross-National Comparisons of Family, Social Environment, and Healthy Aging.}, journal = {The Journals of Gerontology: Series B }, volume = {76}, year = {2021}, pages = {S5-S16}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: The Gateway to Global Aging Data (Gateway; g2aging.org) is a data and information platform developed to facilitate cross-country analyses on aging, especially those using the international family of Health and Retirement studies. We provide a brief introduction to the Gateway to Global Aging Data, discussing its potential for cross-national comparisons of family, social environment, and healthy aging.

METHODS: We summarize the survey metadata, study characteristics, and harmonized data available from the Gateway, describing the population represented in each study. We portray cohort characteristics and key measures of health and social environment from 37 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia using harmonized data.

RESULTS: Significant cross-country heterogeneity was observed in many measures of family, social environment, and healthy aging indicators. For example, there was a three-fold difference in co-residence with children, ranging from 14\% in Sweden to over 46\% in Spain and Korea in 2014. From 2002-2014, the difference between informal care receipt in individuals of low and high wealth decreased by 6\% in the US and remained unchanged in England. The percentage of individuals aged 50-59 living alone in 2012 varied fifteen-fold, from a low of 2\% in China to a high of 30\% in Mexico.

DISCUSSION: By partnering with nationally representative studies around the globe, the Gateway to Global Aging Data facilitates comparative research on aging through the provision of easy-to-use harmonized data files and other valuable tools.

}, keywords = {Cross-Country, Gateway to Global Aging, social network}, issn = {1758-5368}, doi = {10.1093/geronb/gbab050}, author = {Lee, Jinkook and Drystan F. Phillips and Wilkens, Jenny} } @proceedings {13093, title = {The Gender Gap in Household Bargaining Power: A Portfolio-Choice Approach}, year = {2021}, publisher = {SSRN}, address = {Paris, France}, abstract = {When members of the same household have different risk preferences, whose preference matters more for investment decisions and why? We propose an intrahousehold model that aggregates individual preferences at the household level. This allows us to back out the distribution and determinants of bargaining power from household portfolio choice. We structurally estimate the model, analyze the determinants of bargaining power, and find a significant gender gap in bargaining power. While the gap is partially explained by gender differences in individual characteristics such as income and employment, it is also due to gender effects. These patterns hold broadly across Australia, Germany, and the US. We further link the distribution of bargaining power to perceived gender norms in the cross-section of households.}, keywords = {gender gap}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3814200}, author = {Ran Gu and Cameron Peng and Weilong Zhang} } @article {12127, title = {Gene-educational attainment interactions in a multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis identify novel blood pressure loci.}, journal = {Mol Psychiatry}, volume = {26}, year = {2021}, pages = {2111-2125}, abstract = {

Educational attainment is widely used as a surrogate for socioeconomic status (SES). Low SES is a risk factor for hypertension and high blood pressure (BP). To identify novel BP loci, we performed multi-ancestry meta-analyses accounting for gene-educational attainment interactions using two variables, "Some College" (yes/no) and "Graduated College" (yes/no). Interactions were evaluated using both a 1 degree of freedom (DF) interaction term and a 2DF joint test of genetic and interaction effects. Analyses were performed for systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure. We pursued genome-wide interrogation in Stage 1 studies (N = 117 438) and follow-up on promising variants in Stage 2 studies (N = 293 787) in five ancestry groups. Through combined meta-analyses of Stages 1 and 2, we identified 84 known and 18 novel BP loci at genome-wide significance level (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10). Two novel loci were identified based on the 1DF test of interaction with educational attainment, while the remaining 16 loci were identified through the 2DF joint test of genetic and interaction effects. Ten novel loci were identified in individuals of African ancestry. Several novel loci show strong biological plausibility since they involve physiologic systems implicated in BP regulation. They include genes involved in the central nervous system-adrenal signaling axis (ZDHHC17, CADPS, PIK3C2G), vascular structure and function (GNB3, CDON), and renal function (HAS2 and HAS2-AS1, SLIT3). Collectively, these findings suggest a role of educational attainment or SES in further dissection of the genetic architecture of BP.

}, keywords = {Blood pressure, Epistasis, Genetic, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Hypertension, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1476-5578}, doi = {10.1038/s41380-020-0719-3}, author = {de Las Fuentes, Lisa and Yun Ju Sung and Noordam, Raymond and Thomas W Winkler and Feitosa, Mary F and Schwander, Karen and Bentley, Amy R and Brown, Michael R and Guo, Xiuqing and Alisa Manning and Daniel I Chasman and Aschard, Hugues and Traci M Bartz and Bielak, Lawrence F and Campbell, Archie and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Dorajoo, Rajkumar and Hartwig, Fernando P and Horimoto, A R V R and Li, Changwei and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Liu, Yongmei and Marten, Jonathan and Musani, Solomon K and Ntalla, Ioanna and Rankinen, Tuomo and Melissa Richard and Sim, Xueling and Smith, Albert V and Tajuddin, Salman M and Bamidele O Tayo and Vojinovic, Dina and Warren, Helen R and Xuan, Deng and Alver, Maris and Boissel, Mathilde and Jin-Fang Chai and Chen, Xu and Christensen, Kaare and Divers, Jasmin and Evangelou, Evangelos and Gao, Chuan and Giorgia G Girotto and Sarah E Harris and He, Meian and Hsu, Fang-Chi and K{\"u}hnel, Brigitte and Laguzzi, Federica and Li, Xiaoyin and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Ilja M Nolte and Poveda, Alaitz and Rauramaa, Rainer and Riaz, Muhammad and Rueedi, Rico and Shu, Xiao-Ou and Snieder, Harold and Sofer, Tamar and Takeuchi, Fumihiko and Verweij, Niek and Erin B Ware and Weiss, Stefan and Yanek, Lisa R and Amin, Najaf and Dan E Arking and Donna K Arnett and Bergmann, Sven and Boerwinkle, Eric and Brody, Jennifer A and Broeckel, Ulrich and Brumat, Marco and Burke, Gregory and Cabrera, Claudia P and Canouil, Micka{\"e}l and Chee, Miao Li and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Cocca, Massimiliano and Connell, John and de Silva, H Janaka and de Vries, Paul S and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Jessica Faul and Fisher, Virginia and Forrester, Terrence and Fox, Ervin F and Friedlander, Yechiel and Gao, He and Gigante, Bruna and Giulianini, Franco and Gu, Chi Charles and Gu, Dongfeng and Tamara B Harris and He, Jiang and Heikkinen, Sami and Heng, Chew-Kiat and Hunt, Steven and Ikram, M Arfan and Irvin, Marguerite R and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kavousi, Maryam and Khor, Chiea Chuen and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Koh, Woon-Puay and Komulainen, Pirjo and Kraja, Aldi T and Krieger, J E and Langefeld, Carl D and Li, Yize and Liang, Jingjing and David C Liewald and Liu, Ching-Ti and Liu, Jianjun and Kurt Lohman and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and McKenzie, Colin A and Meitinger, Thomas and Andres Metspalu and Milaneschi, Yuri and Lili Milani and Dennis O Mook-Kanamori and Michael A Nalls and Nelson, Christopher P and Norris, Jill M and Jeff O{\textquoteright}Connell and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Palmer, Nicholette D and Nancy L Pedersen and Thomas T Perls and Peters, Annette and Petersmann, Astrid and Peyser, Patricia A and Polasek, Ozren and David J Porteous and Raffel, Leslie J and Rice, Treva K and Rotter, Jerome I and Rudan, Igor and Rueda-Ochoa, Oscar-Leonel and Sabanayagam, Charumathi and Babatunde Salako and Schreiner, Pamela J and Shikany, James M and Stephen Sidney and Sims, Mario and Sitlani, Colleen M and Smith, Jennifer A and John M Starr and Strauch, Konstantin and Swertz, Morris A and Teumer, Alexander and Tham, Yih Chung and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Vaidya, Dhananjay and van der Ende, M Yldau and Waldenberger, Melanie and Wang, Lihua and Wang, Ya-Xing and Wei, Wen-Bin and David R Weir and Wen, Wanqing and Yao, Jie and Yu, Bing and Yu, Caizheng and Yuan, Jian-Min and Zhao, Wei and Alan B Zonderman and Becker, Diane M and Bowden, Donald W and Ian J Deary and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and T{\~o}nu Esko and Freedman, Barry I and Froguel, Philippe and Paolo P. Gasparini and Gieger, Christian and Jost Bruno Jonas and Kammerer, Candace M and Kato, Norihiro and Lakka, Timo A and Leander, Karin and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Patrik K E Magnusson and Marques-Vidal, Pedro and Brenda W J H Penninx and Nilesh J Samani and van der Harst, Pim and Wagenknecht, Lynne E and Wu, Tangchun and Zheng, Wei and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Bouchard, Claude and Cooper, Richard S and Correa, Adolfo and Michele K Evans and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Caroline Hayward and Horta, Bernardo L and Tanika N Kelly and Stephen B Kritchevsky and Levy, Daniel and Walter R Palmas and Pereira, A C and Province, Michael M and Psaty, Bruce M and Ridker, Paul M and Charles N Rotimi and Tai, E Shyong and van Dam, Rob M and Cornelia M van Duijn and Wong, Tien Yin and Kenneth Rice and Gauderman, W James and Alanna C Morrison and Kari E North and Sharon L R Kardia and Caulfield, Mark J and Elliott, Paul and Munroe, Patricia B and Franks, Paul W and Rao, Dabeeru C and Myriam Fornage} } @article {11117, title = {Geriatric Syndromes and Atrial Fibrillation: Prevalence and Association with Anticoagulant Use in a National Cohort of Older Americans.}, journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society}, volume = {69}, year = {2021}, pages = {349-356}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Although guidelines recommend focusing primarily on stroke risk to recommend anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation (AF), physicians report that geriatric syndromes (e.g., falls and disability) are important when considering anticoagulants. Little is known about the prevalence of geriatric syndromes in older adults with AF or the association with anticoagulant use.

METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the 2014 Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of older Americans. Participants were asked questions to assess domains of aging, including function, cognition, and medical conditions. We included participants 65 years and older with 2 years of continuous Medicare enrollment who met AF diagnosis criteria by claims codes. We examined five geriatric syndromes: one or more falls within the last 2 years, receiving help with activities of daily living (ADLs) or instrumental ADLs (IADL), experienced incontinence, and cognitive impairment. We determined the prevalence of geriatric syndromes and their association with anticoagulant use, adjusting for ischemic stroke risk (i.e., CHA DS -VASc score [congestive heart failure, hypertension, age, diabetes mellitus, stroke, vascular disease, and sex]).

RESULTS: In this study of 779 participants with AF (median age = 80 years; median CHA DS -VASc score = 4), 82\% had one or more geriatric syndromes. Geriatric syndromes were common: 49\% reported falls, 38\% had ADL impairments, 42\% had IADL impairments, 37\% had cognitive impairments, and 43\% reported incontinence. Overall, 65\% reported anticoagulant use; guidelines recommend anticoagulant use for 97\% of participants. Anticoagulant use rate decreased for each additional geriatric syndrome (average marginal effect = -3.7\%; 95\% confidence interval = -1.4\% to -5.9\%). Lower rates of anticoagulant use were reported in participants with ADL dependency, IADL dependency, and dementia.

CONCLUSION: Most older adults with AF had at least one geriatric syndrome, and geriatric syndromes were associated with reduced anticoagulant use. The high prevalence of geriatric syndromes may explain the lower than expected anticoagulant use in older adults.

}, keywords = {anticoagulants, Atrial Fibrillation, Epidemiology, geriatric syndromes}, issn = {1532-5415}, doi = {10.1111/jgs.16822}, author = {Sachin J Shah and Margaret C Fang and Sun Y Jeon and Gregorich, Steven E and Kenneth E Covinsky} } @article {12130, title = {Genome-wide association study of cognitive function in diverse Hispanics/Latinos: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.}, journal = {Translational Psychiatry}, volume = {10}, year = {2020}, pages = {245}, abstract = {

Cognitive function such as reasoning, attention, memory, and language is strongly correlated with brain aging. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics/Latinos have a higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. The genetic determinants of cognitive function have not been widely explored in this diverse and admixed population. We conducted a genome-wide association analysis of cognitive function in up to 7600 middle aged and older Hispanics/Latinos (mean = 55 years) from the Hispanic Community Health Study / Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Four cognitive measures were examined: the Brief Spanish English Verbal Learning Test (B-SEVLT), the Word Fluency Test (WFT), the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), the Six-Item Screener (SIS). Four novel loci were identified: one for B-SEVLT at 4p14, two for WFT at 3p14.1 and 6p21.32, and one for DSST at 10p13. These loci implicate genes highly expressed in brain and previously connected to neurological diseases (UBE2K, FRMD4B, the HLA gene complex). By applying tissue-specific gene expression prediction models to our genotype data, additional genes highly expressed in brain showed suggestive associations with cognitive measures possibly indicating novel biological mechanisms, including IFT122 in the hippocampus for SIS, SNX31 in the basal ganglia for B-SEVLT, RPS6KB2 in the frontal cortex for WFT, and CSPG5 in the hypothalamus for DSST. These findings provide new information about the genetic determinants of cognitive function in this unique population. In addition, we derived a measure of general cognitive function based on these cognitive tests and generated genome-wide association summary results, providing a resource to the research community for comparison, replication, and meta-analysis in future genetic studies in Hispanics/Latinos.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cognition, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological tests, Public Health, Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes}, issn = {2158-3188}, doi = {10.1038/s41398-020-00930-2}, author = {Jian, Xueqiu and Sofer, Tamar and Wassim Tarraf and Bressler, Jan and Jessica Faul and Zhao, Wei and Scott M Ratliff and Lamar, Melissa and Lenore J Launer and Laurie, Cathy C and Schneiderman, Neil and David R Weir and Wright, Clinton B and Kristine Yaffe and Zeng, Donglin and DeCarli, Charles and Thomas H Mosley and Smith, Jennifer A and Hector M Gonz{\'a}lez and Myriam Fornage} } @article {10929, title = {Glycosylated Hemoglobin Level, Race/Ethnicity, and Cognition in Midlife and Early Old Age}, journal = {Research in Human Development}, volume = {17}, year = {2020}, pages = {20 - 40}, abstract = {Empirical evidence linking racial/ethnic differences in glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c) to cognitive function in midlife and early old age is limited. We use biomarker data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, 2006?2014), on adults 50?64 years at baseline (57?73 years by 2014), and fit multinomial logistic regression models to assess the association between baseline HbA1c, cognitive function (using Langa?Weir classifications) and mortality across 8 years. Additionally, we test for modification effects by race/ethnicity. In age- and sex-adjusted models high HbA1c level was associated with lower baseline cognition and higher relative risk ratios (RRR; vs. normal cognition) for cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND; RRR = 2.3; 95\%CI = [1.38;3.84]; p < .01), and dementia (RRR = 4.00; 95\%CI = [1.76;9.10]; p < .01). Adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral risk factors, and other health conditions explained the higher RRR for CIND and attenuated the RRR for dementia by approximately 30\%. HbA1c levels were not linked to the slope of cognitive decline, and we found no evidence of modification effects for HbA1c by race/ethnicity. Targeting interventions for glycemic control in the critical midlife period can protect baseline cognition and buffer against downstream development of cognitive impairment. This can yield important public health benefits and reductions in burdens associated with cognitive impairment, particularly among race/ethnic minorities who are at higher risk for metabolic diseases.}, keywords = {biomarker data, cognitive function, Racial/ethnic differences}, isbn = {1542-7609}, doi = {10.1080/15427609.2020.1743810}, author = {Ortiz, Kasim and Marc Garcia and Emily Brice{\~n}o and Diminich, Erica D. and Ar{\'e}valo, Sandra P. and Vega, Irving E. and Wassim Tarraf} } @article {10059, title = {Glycated hemoglobin and all-cause and cause-specific mortality among adults with and without diabetes.}, journal = {Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism}, year = {2019}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: The patterns of associations between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and mortality are still unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the extent to which ranges of HbA1c levels are associated with the risk of mortality among participants with and without diabetes.

DESIGN: Setting and patients: This was a nationwide, community-based prospective cohort study. Included were 15,869 participants (median age 64 years) of the Health and Retirement Study, with available HbA1c data and without a history of cancer. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95\% confidential intervals (95\% CIs) for mortality.

RESULTS: A total of 2,133 participants died during a median follow-up of 5.8 years. In participants with diabetes, those with an HbA1c level of 6.5\% were at the lowest risk of all-cause mortality. When HbA1c level was lower than 5.6\% or higher than 7.4\%, the increased all-cause mortality risk became statistically significant as compared with an HbA1c level of 6.5\%. As for participants without diabetes, those with an HbA1c level of 5.4\% were at the lowest risk of all-cause mortality. When HbA1c level was lower than 5.0\%, the increased all-cause mortality risk became statistically significant as compared with an HbA1c level of 5.4\%. However, we did not observe a statistically significant elevated risk of all-cause mortality above an HbA1c level of 5.4\%.

CONCLUSIONS: A U-shaped and a reverse J-shaped association for all-cause mortality were found among participants with and without diabetes. The corresponding Optimal ranges for overall survival are predicted to be 5.6-7.4\% and 5.0-6.5\%, respectively.

}, keywords = {Biomarkers, Diabetes, Mortality}, issn = {1945-7197}, doi = {10.1210/jc.2018-02536}, author = {Li, Fu-Rong and Zhang, Xi-Ru and Zhong, Wen-Fang and Li, Zhi-Hao and Gao, Xiang and Virginia Byers Kraus and Lv, Yue-Bin and Zou, Meng-Chen and Chen, Guo-Chong and Chen, Pei-Liang and Zhang, Min-Yi and Kur, Akech Kuol Akech and Shi, Xiao-Ming and Wu, Xian-Bo and Mao, Chen} } @article {GEIGER201918, title = {The growing American health penalty: International trends in the employment of older workers with poor health}, journal = {Social Science Research}, volume = {82}, year = {2019}, pages = {18 - 32}, abstract = {Many countries have reduced the generosity of sickness and disability programs while making them more activating {\textendash} yet few studies have examined how employment rates have subsequently changed. We present estimates of how employment rates of older workers with poor health in 13 high-income countries changed 2004{\textendash}7 to 2012{\textendash}15 using HRS/SHARE/ELSA data. We find that those in poor health in the USA have experienced a unique deterioration: they have not only seen a widening gap to the employment rates of those with good health, but their employment rates fell per se. We find only for Sweden (and possibly England) signs that the health employment gap shrank, with rising employment but stable gaps elsewhere. We then examine possible explanations for the development in the USA: we find no evidence it links to labor market trends, but possible links to the USA{\textquoteright}s lack of disability benefit reform and wider economic trends.}, keywords = {Disability, Employment, health, Panel data, Social Security, Welfare}, issn = {0049-089X}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.03.008}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X1830560X}, author = {Ben Baumberg Geiger and Ren{\'e} B{\"o}heim and Thomas Leoni} } @article {9568, title = {Gender, Spousal Caregiving, and Depression: Does Paid Work Matter?}, journal = {Journal of Marriage and Family}, volume = {80}, year = {2018}, pages = {537-554}, abstract = {Studies have shown that spousal caregiving leads to psychological distress, but few have analyzed the moderating effect of paid work. Using the 2000 to 2012 Health and Retirement Study and two-stage least squares regression models, this study found that caregiving increased women{\textquoteright}s and men{\textquoteright}s depressive symptoms. Ordinary least squares models showed that caregiving had more adverse effects on women{\textquoteright}s mental health than on men{\textquoteright}s, but these differences were eliminated in two-stage least squares models that accounted for the bidirectional effects of depression and caregiving. The current study also found that for women, part-time work attenuated the depressive effect of spousal caregiving, whereas for men, part-time work exacerbated it. These gender differences persisted even for intensive spousal caregivers. The authors suggest that caregiving women who work part-time may benefit from work-related resources. Caregiving men who work part-time, however, may feel distressed, as their work-family experiences conflict with traditional gender norms.}, keywords = {Caregiving, Depressive symptoms, Gender Differences, Purpose in life, Social Support}, doi = {10.1111/jomf.2018.80.issue-210.1111/jomf.12446}, author = {Glauber, Rebecca and Day, Melissa D.} } @article {9877, title = {Genome-wide association meta-analysis in 269,867 individuals identifies new genetic and functional links to intelligence}, journal = {Nature Genetics}, volume = {50}, year = {2018}, month = {Jan-07-2018}, pages = {912 - 919}, abstract = {Intelligence is highly heritable1 and a major determinant of human health and well-being2. Recent genome-wide meta-analyses have identified 24 genomic loci linked to variation in intelligence3-7, but much about its genetic underpinnings remains to be discovered. Here, we present a large-scale genetic association study of intelligence (n = 269,867), identifying 205 associated genomic loci (190 new) and 1,016 genes (939 new) via positional mapping, expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping, chromatin interaction mapping, and gene-based association analysis. We find enrichment of genetic effects in conserved and coding regions and associations with 146 nonsynonymous exonic variants. Associated genes are strongly expressed in the brain, specifically in striatal medium spiny neurons and hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Gene set analyses implicate pathways related to nervous system development and synaptic structure. We confirm previous strong genetic correlations with multiple health-related outcomes, and Mendelian randomization analysis results suggest protective effects of intelligence for Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease and ADHD and bidirectional causation with pleiotropic effects for schizophrenia. These results are a major step forward in understanding the neurobiology of cognitive function as well as genetically related neurological and psychiatric disorders. }, keywords = {Genome-Wide Association Study, Intelligence, Meta-analyses}, issn = {1061-4036}, doi = {10.1038/s41588-018-0152-6}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0152-6http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0152-6.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0152-6http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0152-6.pdf}, author = {Savage, Jeanne E. and Philip R Jansen and Stringer, Sven and Watanabe, Kyoko and Bryois, Julien and Christiaan de Leeuw and Nagel, Mats and Awasthi, Swapnil and Barr, Peter B. and Coleman, Jonathan R. I. and Grasby, Katrina L. and Anke R Hammerschlag and Kaminski, Jakob A. and Karlsson, Robert and Krapohl, Eva and Lam, Max and Nygaard, Marianne and Chandra A Reynolds and Joey W Trampush and Young, Hannah and Zabaneh, Delilah and H{\"a}gg, Sara and Narelle K Hansell and Ida Karlsson and Linnarsson, Sten and Grant W Montgomery and Mu{\~n}oz-Manchado, Ana B. and Quinlan, Erin B. and Schumann, Gunter and Skene, Nathan G. and Webb, Bradley T. and White, Tonya and Dan E Arking and Avramopoulos, Dimitrios and Robert M Bilder and Bitsios, Panos and Katherine E Burdick and Tyrone D. Cannon and Chiba-Falek, Ornit and Christoforou, Andrea and Elizabeth T. Cirulli and Congdon, Eliza and Corvin, Aiden and Gail Davies and Ian J Deary and DeRosse, Pamela and Dickinson, Dwight and Djurovic, Srdjan and Donohoe, Gary and Conley, Emily Drabant and Johan G Eriksson and Espeseth, Thomas and Nelson A. Freimer and Giakoumaki, Stella and Giegling, Ina and Gill, Michael and David C. Glahn and Ahmad R Hariri and Hatzimanolis, Alex and Matthew C Keller and Knowles, Emma and Koltai, Deborah and Konte, Bettina and Lahti, Jari and Stephanie Le Hellard and Lencz, Todd and David C Liewald and London, Edythe and Astri J Lundervold and Anil K. Malhotra and Melle, Ingrid and Morris, Derek and Anna C Need and William E R Ollier and Aarno Palotie and Payton, Antony and Pendleton, Neil and Russell A Poldrack and Katri R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen and Reinvang, Ivar and Roussos, Panos and Rujescu, Dan and Fred W Sabb and Matthew A Scult and Smeland, Olav B. and Smyrnis, Nikolaos and John M Starr and Vidar M Steen and Nikos C Stefanis and Richard E Straub and Sundet, Kjetil and Henning Tiemeier and Aristotle N Voineskos and Daniel R Weinberger and Elisabeth Widen and Yu, Jin and Gon{\c c}alo R Abecasis and Andreassen, Ole A. and Breen, Gerome and Christiansen, Lene and Debrabant, Birgit and Danielle M. Dick and Heinz, Andreas and Hjerling-Leffler, Jens and Mohammed Arfan Ikram and Kendler, Kenneth S. and Nicholas G Martin and Sarah E Medland and Nancy L Pedersen and Plomin, Robert and Tinca J Polderman and Ripke, Stephan and van der Sluis, Sophie and Patrick F. Sullivan and Scott Vrieze and Margaret J Wright and Posthuma, Danielle} } @article {9598, title = {A genome-wide association study for extremely high intelligence}, journal = {Molecular Psychiatry}, volume = {23}, year = {2018}, month = {Apr-05-2018}, pages = {1226 - 1232}, abstract = {We used a case-control genome-wide association (GWA) design with cases consisting of 1238 individuals from the top 0.0003 (~170 mean IQ) of the population distribution of intelligence and 8172 unselected population-based controls. The single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability for the extreme IQ trait was 0.33 (0.02), which is the highest so far for a cognitive phenotype, and significant genome-wide genetic correlations of 0.78 were observed with educational attainment and 0.86 with population IQ. Three variants in locus ADAM12 achieved genome-wide significance, although they did not replicate with published GWA analyses of normal-range IQ or educational attainment. A genome-wide polygenic score constructed from the GWA results accounted for 1.6\% of the variance of intelligence in the normal range in an unselected sample of 3414 individuals, which is comparable to the variance explained by GWA studies of intelligence with substantially larger sample sizes. The gene family plexins, members of which are mutated in several monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders, was significantly enriched for associations with high IQ. This study shows the utility of extreme trait selection for genetic study of intelligence and suggests that extremely high intelligence is continuous genetically with normal-range intelligence in the population.}, keywords = {Cognitive Ability, Education, Genome, Hereditary, Humans}, issn = {1359-4184}, doi = {10.1038/mp.2017.121}, url = {http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/mp.2017.121http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/mp.2017.121}, author = {Zabaneh, D and Krapohl, E and Gaspar, H A and Curtis, C and Lee, S H and Patel, H and Newhouse, S and Wu, H M and Simpson, M A and Putallaz, M and Lubinski, D and Plomin, R and Breen, G} } @article {8489, title = {Gender Differences in Spousal Care Across the Later Life Course.}, journal = {Res Aging}, volume = {39}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 09}, pages = {934-959}, abstract = {

Spouses often serve as the primary caregivers to their ill or disabled partners. Studies have shown that men receive more care from their wives than vice versa, but few studies have focused on how the gender gap in care varies across the later life course. Drawing on data from the Health and Retirement Study, this study examined the moderating effects of age, gender, and full-time employment on married women{\textquoteright}s and men{\textquoteright}s receipt of spousal care. This study found that among community-dwelling married adults, the gender gap in care was larger among those in middle age (50-65) than it was among those in older age. As women and men aged, the gender gap decreased primarily because men left full-time work and increased the amount of time that they spent caring for their wives. As gender differences in full-time employment narrowed, the gender gap in spousal care narrowed.

}, keywords = {Activities of Daily Living, Aged, Caregivers, Cross-Sectional Studies, Employment, Female, Home Care Services, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Sex Factors, Spouses}, issn = {1552-7573}, doi = {10.1177/0164027516644503}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27193046}, author = {Glauber, Rebecca} } @article {9429, title = {Gene-by-Psychosocial Factor Interactions Influence Diastolic Blood Pressure in European and African Ancestry Populations: Meta-Analysis of Four Cohort Studies.}, journal = {Int J Environ Res Public Health}, volume = {14}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Inter-individual variability in blood pressure (BP) is influenced by both genetic and non-genetic factors including socioeconomic and psychosocial stressors. A deeper understanding of the gene-by-socioeconomic/psychosocial factor interactions on BP may help to identify individuals that are genetically susceptible to high BP in specific social contexts. In this study, we used a genomic region-based method for longitudinal analysis, Longitudinal Gene-Environment-Wide Interaction Studies (LGEWIS), to evaluate the effects of interactions between known socioeconomic/psychosocial and genetic risk factors on systolic and diastolic BP in four large epidemiologic cohorts of European and/or African ancestry. After correction for multiple testing, two interactions were significantly associated with diastolic BP. In European ancestry participants, outward/trait anger score had a significant interaction with the C10orf107 genomic region (p = 0.0019). In African ancestry participants, depressive symptom score had a significant interaction with the HFE genomic region (p = 0.0048). This study provides a foundation for using genomic region-based longitudinal analysis to identify subgroups of the population that may be at greater risk of elevated BP due to the combined influence of genetic and socioeconomic/psychosocial risk factors.}, keywords = {Blood pressure, Genetics, GWAS, Meta-analyses, Psychosocial, Socioeconomic factors}, issn = {1660-4601}, doi = {10.3390/ijerph14121596}, author = {Wei Zhao and Yasutake, Kalyn and August, Carmella and Scott M Ratliff and Jessica Faul and Boerwinkle, Eric and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Ana V. Diez-Roux and Gao, Yan and Michael E Griswold and Gerardo Heiss and Sharon L R Kardia and Alanna C Morrison and Musani, Solomon K and Mwasongwe, Stanford and Kari E North and Rose, Kathryn M and Sims, Mario and Yan V Sun and David R Weir and Belinda L Needham} } @article {9090, title = {Genetic architecture of epigenetic and neuronal ageing rates in human brain regions}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, month = {Jun-05-2018}, abstract = {Identifying genes regulating the pace of epigenetic ageing represents a new frontier in genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Here using 1,796 brain samples from 1,163 individuals, we carry out a GWAS of two DNA methylation-based biomarkers of brain age: the epigenetic ageing rate and estimated proportion of neurons. Locus 17q11.2 is significantly associated (P=4.5 {\texttimes} 10 -9 ) with the ageing rate across five brain regions and harbours a cis-expression quantitative trait locus for EFCAB5 (P=3.4 {\texttimes} 10-20 ). Locus 1p36.12 is significantly associated (P=2.2 {\texttimes} 10-8 ) with epigenetic ageing of the prefrontal cortex, independent of the proportion of neurons. Our GWAS of the proportion of neurons identified two genome-wide significant loci (10q26 and 12p13.31) and resulted in a gene set that overlaps significantly with sets found by GWAS of age-related macular degeneration (P=1.4 {\texttimes} 10 -12 ), ulcerative colitis (P<1.0 {\texttimes} 10-20 ), type 2 diabetes (P=2.8 {\texttimes} 10-13 ), hip/waist circumference in men (P=1.1 {\texttimes} 10-9 ), schizophrenia (P=1.6 {\texttimes} 10-9 ), cognitive decline (P=5.3 {\texttimes} 10-4 ) and Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease (P=8.6 {\texttimes} 10-3 ).}, keywords = {Genetics}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms15353}, url = {http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ncomms15353http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ncomms15353}, author = {Lu, Ake T and Hannon, Eilis and Morgan E. Levine and Eileen M. Crimmins and Lunnon, Katie and Mill, Jonathan and Daniel H. Geschwind and Horvath, Steve} } @article {9260, title = {Genetic variants specific to aging-related verbal memory: Insights from GWASs in a population-based cohort.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {12}, year = {2017}, month = {2017}, pages = {e0182448}, abstract = {Verbal memory is typically studied using immediate recall (IR) and delayed recall (DR) scores, although DR is dependent on IR capability. Separating these components may be useful for deciphering the genetic variation in age-related memory abilities. This study was conducted to (a) construct individual trajectories in IR and independent aspects of delayed recall, or residualized-DR (rDR), across older adulthood; and (b) identify genetic markers that contribute to four estimated phenotypes: IR and rDR levels and changes after age 60. A cognitively intact sample (N = 20,650 with 125,164 observations) was drawn from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of adults aged 50 and older. Mixed effects regression models were constructed using repeated measures from data collected every two years (1996-2012) to estimate level at age 60 and change in memory post-60 in IR and rDR. Genome-wide association scans (GWAS) were conducted in the genotypic subsample (N = 7,486) using ~1.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). One SNP (rs2075650) in TOMM40 associated with rDR level at the genome-wide level (p = 5.0x10-08), an effect that replicated in an independent sample from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (N = 6,898 with 41,328 observations). Meta-analysis of rDR level confirmed the association (p = 5.0x10-11) and identified two others in TOMM40 (rs71352238 p = 1.0x10-10; rs157582 p = 7.0x10-09), and one in APOE (rs769449 p = 3.1 x10-12). Meta-analysis of IR change identified associations with three of the same SNPs in TOMM40 (rs157582 p = 8.3x10-10; rs71352238 p = 1.9x10-09) and APOE (rs769449 p = 2.2x10-08). Conditional analyses indicate GWAS signals on rDR level were driven by APOE, whereas signals on IR change were driven by TOMM40. Additionally, we found that TOMM40 had effects independent of APOE e4 on both phenotypes. Findings from this first U.S. population-based GWAS study conducted on both age-related immediate and delayed verbal memory merit continued examination in other samples and additional measures of verbal memory.}, keywords = {Cognitive Ability, Genetics, GWAS, Memory}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0182448}, author = {Thalida E. Arpawong and Pendleton, Neil and Mekli, Krisztina and John J McArdle and Margaret Gatz and Armoskus, Chris and James A Knowles and Carol A Prescott} } @article {8655, title = {Genome-Wide Association Study of Loneliness Demonstrates a Role for Common Variation.}, journal = {Neuropsychopharmacology}, volume = {42}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar}, pages = {811-821}, abstract = {

Loneliness is a complex biological trait that has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. The measurement and environmental determinants of loneliness are well understood, but its genetic basis is not. Previous studies have estimated the heritability of loneliness between 37 and 55\% using twins and family-based approaches, and have explored the role of specific candidate genes. We used genotypic and phenotypic data from 10 760 individuals aged ⩾50 years that were collected by the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to perform the first genome-wide association study of loneliness. No associations reached genome-wide significance (p>5 {\texttimes} 10). Furthermore, none of the previously published associations between variants within candidate genes (BDNF, OXTR, RORA, GRM8, CHRNA4, IL-1A, CRHR1, MTHFR, DRD2, APOE) and loneliness were replicated (p>0.05), despite our much larger sample size. We estimated the chip heritability of loneliness and examined coheritability between loneliness and several personality and psychiatric traits. Our estimates of chip heritability (14-27\%) support a role for common genetic variation. We identified strong genetic correlations between loneliness, neuroticism, and a scale of {\textquoteright}depressive symptoms.{\textquoteright} We also identified weaker evidence for coheritability with extraversion, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. We conclude that loneliness, as defined in this study, is a modestly heritable trait that has a highly polygenic genetic architecture. The coheritability between loneliness and neuroticism may reflect the role of negative affectivity that is common to both traits. Our results also reflect the value of studies that probe the common genetic basis of salutary social bonds and clinically defined psychiatric disorders.

}, keywords = {Aged, depression, Extraversion, Psychological, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Mental Disorders, Middle Aged, Neuroticism, Phenotype}, issn = {1740-634X}, doi = {10.1038/npp.2016.197}, url = {http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/npp.2016.197}, author = {Gao, Jianjun and Lea K. Davis and Amy B. Hart and Sanchez-Roige, Sandra and Han, Lide and John T. Cacioppo and Abraham A Palmer} } @article {12131, title = {Genome-wide meta-analysis associates HLA-DQA1/DRB1 and LPA and lifestyle factors with human longevity.}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, pages = {910}, abstract = {

Genomic analysis of longevity offers the potential to illuminate the biology of human aging. Here, using genome-wide association meta-analysis of 606,059 parents{\textquoteright} survival, we discover two regions associated with longevity (HLA-DQA1/DRB1 and LPA). We also validate previous suggestions that APOE, CHRNA3/5, CDKN2A/B, SH2B3 and FOXO3A influence longevity. Next we show that giving up smoking, educational attainment, openness to new experience and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels are most positively genetically correlated with lifespan while susceptibility to coronary artery disease (CAD), cigarettes smoked per day, lung cancer, insulin resistance and body fat are most negatively correlated. We suggest that the effect of education on lifespan is principally mediated through smoking while the effect of obesity appears to act via CAD. Using instrumental variables, we suggest that an increase of one body mass index unit reduces lifespan by 7 months while 1 year of education adds 11 months to expected lifespan.Variability in human longevity is genetically influenced. Using genetic data of parental lifespan, the authors identify associations at HLA-DQA/DRB1 and LPA and find that genetic variants that increase educational attainment have a positive effect on lifespan whereas increasing BMI negatively affects lifespan.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Body Mass Index, Coronary Disease, Education, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, HLA-DQ alpha-Chains, HLA-DRB1 Chains, Humans, Insulin Resistance, Life Style, Lipoprotein(a), Lipoproteins, HDL, Longevity, Lung Neoplasms, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Smoking, Socioeconomic factors}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-017-00934-5}, author = {Joshi, Peter K and Nicola Pirastu and Kentistou, Katherine A and Fischer, Krista and Edith Hofer and Schraut, Katharina E and Clark, David W and Nutile, Teresa and Barnes, Catriona L K and Paul Rhj Timmers and Shen, Xia and Gandin, Ilaria and McDaid, Aaron F and Hansen, Thomas Folkmann and Gordon, Scott D and Giulianini, Franco and Boutin, Thibaud S and Abdellaoui, Abdel and Zhao, Wei and Medina-Gomez, Carolina and Traci M Bartz and Trompet, Stella and Leslie A Lange and Raffield, Laura and van der Spek, Ashley and Galesloot, Tessel E and Proitsi, Petroula and Yanek, Lisa R and Bielak, Lawrence F and Payton, Antony and Murgia, Federico and Concas, Maria Pina and Biino, Ginevra and Tajuddin, Salman M and Sepp{\"a}l{\"a}, Ilkka and Amin, Najaf and Boerwinkle, Eric and B{\o}rglum, Anders D and Campbell, Archie and Ellen W Demerath and Demuth, Ilja and Jessica Faul and Ford, Ian and Gialluisi, Alessandro and G{\"o}gele, Martin and Graff, Mariaelisa and Aroon Hingorani and Jouke-Jan Hottenga and Hougaard, David M and Hurme, Mikko A and Ikram, M Arfan and Jylh{\"a}, Marja and Kuh, Diana and Ligthart, Lannie and Lill, Christina M and Lindenberger, Ulman and Lumley, Thomas and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Marques-Vidal, Pedro and Sarah E Medland and Lili Milani and Nagy, Reka and William E R Ollier and Peyser, Patricia A and Pramstaller, Peter P and Ridker, Paul M and Fernando Rivadeneira and Ruggiero, Daniela and Saba, Yasaman and Schmidt, Reinhold and Schmidt, Helena and Slagboom, P Eline and Smith, Blair H and Smith, Jennifer A and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth and van Rooij, Frank J A and Verbeek, Andr{\'e} L and Vermeulen, Sita H and Vollenweider, Peter and Wang, Yunpeng and Werge, Thomas and Whitfield, John B and Alan B Zonderman and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Michele K Evans and Pirastu, Mario and Fuchsberger, Christian and Bertram, Lars and Pendleton, Neil and Sharon L R Kardia and Ciullo, Marina and Becker, Diane M and Wong, Andrew and Psaty, Bruce M and Cornelia M van Duijn and Wilson, James G and Jukema, J Wouter and Lambertus A Kiemeney and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Franceschini, Nora and Kari E North and David R Weir and Andres Metspalu and Dorret I Boomsma and Caroline Hayward and Daniel I Chasman and Nicholas G Martin and Sattar, Naveed and Campbell, Harry and T{\~o}nu Esko and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and James F Wilson} } @article {8879, title = {Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 21}, pages = {10023}, abstract = {

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways.

}, keywords = {Chronic disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms10023}, author = {Pattaro, Cristian and Teumer, Alexander and Gorski, Mathias and Chu, Audrey Y and Li, Man and Mijatovic, Vladan and Garnaas, Maija and Tin, Adrienne and Sorice, Rossella and Yong Li and Taliun, Daniel and Olden, Matthias and Foster, Meredith and Qiong Yang and Chen, Ming-Huei and Pers, Tune H and Andrew D Johnson and Ko, Yi-An and Fuchsberger, Christian and Bamidele O Tayo and Michael A Nalls and Feitosa, Mary F and Isaacs, Aaron and Dehghan, Abbas and d{\textquoteright}Adamo, Pio and Adebawole Adeyemo and Dieffenbach, Aida Karina and Alan B Zonderman and Ilja M Nolte and van der Most, Peter J and Alan F Wright and Alan R Shuldiner and Alanna C Morrison and Hofman, Albert and Albert Vernon Smith and Dreisbach, Albert W and Franke, Andre and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Andres Metspalu and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Lupo, Antonio and Robino, Antonietta and Johansson, {\r A}sa and Demirkan, Ayse and Kollerits, Barbara and Freedman, Barry I and Ponte, Belen and Ben A Oostra and Paulweber, Bernhard and Kr{\"a}mer, Bernhard K and Mitchell, Braxton D and Buckley, Brendan M and Peralta, Carmen A and Caroline Hayward and Helmer, Catherine and Charles N Rotimi and Shaffer, Christian M and M{\"u}ller, Christian and Cinzia Felicita Sala and Cornelia M van Duijn and Saint-Pierre, Aude and Daniel Ackermann and Daniel Shriner and Ruggiero, Daniela and Toniolo, Daniela and Lu, Yingchang and Cusi, Daniele and Czamara, Darina and Ellinghaus, David and David S Siscovick and Ruderfer, Douglas and Gieger, Christian and Grallert, Harald and Rochtchina, Elena and Atkinson, Elizabeth J and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Boerwinkle, Eric and Salvi, Erika and Erwin P Bottinger and Murgia, Federico and Fernando Rivadeneira and Ernst, Florian and Kronenberg, Florian and Hu, Frank B and Navis, Gerjan J and Curhan, Gary C and Georg B Ehret and Homuth, Georg and Coassin, Stefan and Thun, Gian-Andri and Pistis, Giorgio and Gambaro, Giovanni and Malerba, Giovanni and Grant W Montgomery and Gu{\dh}ny Eir{\'\i}ksd{\'o}ttir and Jacobs, Gunnar and Guo Li and Wichmann, H-Erich and Campbell, Harry and Schmidt, Helena and Wallaschofski, Henri and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Brenner, Hermann and Kroemer, Heyo K and Kramer, Holly and Lin, Honghuang and Irene Mateo Leach and Ford, Ian and Guessous, Idris and Rudan, Igor and Prokopenko, Inga and Ingrid B Borecki and Iris M Heid and Kolcic, Ivana and Persico, Ivana and Jukema, J Wouter and James F Wilson and Felix, Janine F and Divers, Jasmin and Lambert, Jean-Charles and Stafford, Jeanette M and Gaspoz, Jean-Michel and Jennifer A Smith and Jessica Faul and Wang, Jie Jin and Ding, Jingzhong and Joel N Hirschhron and John R. Attia and Whitfield, John B and Chalmers, John and Viikari, Jorma and Coresh, Josef and Denny, Joshua C and Karjalainen, Juha and Fernandes, Jyotika K and Endlich, Karlhans and Butterbach, Katja and Keene, Keith L and Kurt Lohman and Portas, Laura and Lenore J Launer and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Yengo, Loic and Lude L Franke and Luigi Ferrucci and Rose, Lynda M and Kedenko, Lyudmyla and Rao, Madhumathi and Struchalin, Maksim and Kleber, Marcus E and Cavalieri, Margherita and Haun, Margot and Marilyn C Cornelis and Ciullo, Marina and Pirastu, Mario and de Andrade, Mariza and McEvoy, Mark A and Woodward, Mark and Adam, Martin and Cocca, Massimiliano and Nauck, Matthias and Imboden, Medea and Waldenberger, Melanie and Pruijm, Menno and Metzger, Marie and Stumvoll, Michael and Michele K Evans and Sale, Michele M and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Boban, Mladen and Bochud, Murielle and Rheinberger, Myriam and Verweij, Niek and Bouatia-Naji, Nabila and Nicholas G Martin and Nicholas D Hastie and Nicole M Probst-Hensch and Soranzo, Nicole and Devuyst, Olivier and Olli T Raitakari and Gottesman, Omri and Franco, Oscar H and Polasek, Ozren and Paolo P. Gasparini and Munroe, Patricia B and Ridker, Paul M and Mitchell, Paul and Muntner, Paul and Meisinger, Christa and Johannes H Smit and Kovacs, Peter and Wild, Philipp S and Froguel, Philippe and Rettig, Rainer and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Biffar, Reiner and Schmidt, Reinhold and Middelberg, Rita P S and Carroll, Robert J and Brenda W J H Penninx and Rodney J Scott and Katz, Ronit and Sedaghat, Sanaz and Sarah Wild and Sharon L R Kardia and Ulivi, Sheila and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Enroth, Stefan and Kloiber, Stefan and Trompet, Stella and Stengel, Benedicte and Hancock, Stephen J and Stephen T Turner and Rosas, Sylvia E and Stracke, Sylvia and Tamara B Harris and Zeller, Tanja and Zemunik, Tatijana and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Illig, Thomas and Aspelund, Thor and Nikopensius, Tiit and T{\~o}nu Esko and Toshiko Tanaka and Gyllensten, Ulf and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Emilsson, Valur and Vitart, Veronique and Aalto, Ville and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Chouraki, Vincent and Chen, Wei-Min and Igl, Wilmar and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Koenig, Wolfgang and Lieb, Wolfgang and Ruth J F Loos and Yongmei Liu and Snieder, Harold and Pramstaller, Peter P and Parsa, Afshin and Jeff O{\textquoteright}Connell and Susztak, Katalin and Hamet, Pavel and Tremblay, Johanne and de Boer, Ian H and B{\"o}ger, Carsten A and Goessling, Wolfram and Daniel I Chasman and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and Kao, W H Linda and Caroline S Fox} } @article {8618, title = {Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {48}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 06}, pages = {624-33}, abstract = {

Very few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data. We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (n = 298,420), depressive symptoms (n = 161,460), and neuroticism (n = 170,911). We identify 3 variants associated with subjective well-being, 2 variants associated with depressive symptoms, and 11 variants associated with neuroticism, including 2 inversion polymorphisms. The two loci associated with depressive symptoms replicate in an independent depression sample. Joint analyses that exploit the high genetic correlations between the phenotypes (|ρ^| ≈ 0.8) strengthen the overall credibility of the findings and allow us to identify additional variants. Across our phenotypes, loci regulating expression in central nervous system and adrenal or pancreas tissues are strongly enriched for association.

}, keywords = {Anxiety Disorders, Bayes Theorem, depression, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Neuroticism, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3552}, author = {Okbay, Aysu and Baselmans, Bart M L and De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel and Turley, Patrick and Nivard, Michel G and Mark Alan Fontana and Meddens, S Fleur W and Richard Karlsson Linn{\'e}r and Cornelius A Rietveld and Derringer, Jaime and Gratten, Jacob and Lee, James J and Liu, Jimmy Z and de Vlaming, Ronald and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Buchwald, Jadwiga and Cavadino, Alana and Frazier-Wood, Alexis C and Furlotte, Nicholas A and Garfield, Victoria and Geisel, Marie Henrike and Gonzalez, Juan R and Haitjema, Saskia and Karlsson, Robert and van der Laan, Sander W and Ladwig, Karl-Heinz and J. Lahti and Sven J van der Lee and Penelope A Lind and Tian Liu and Lindsay K Matteson and Mihailov, Evelin and Michael B Miller and Minica, Camelia C and Ilja M Nolte and Dennis O Mook-Kanamori and van der Most, Peter J and Christopher J Oldmeadow and Qian, Yong and Olli T Raitakari and Rawal, Rajesh and Realo, Anu and Rueedi, Rico and Schmidt, B{\"o}rge and Albert Vernon Smith and Stergiakouli, Evie and Toshiko Tanaka and Kent D Taylor and Wedenoja, Juho and J{\"u}rgen Wellmann and Westra, Harm-Jan and Willems, Sara M and Wei Zhao and Amin, Najaf and Bakshi, Andrew and Patricia A. Boyle and Cherney, Samantha and Cox, Simon R and Gail Davies and Davis, Oliver S P and Ding, Jun and Nese Direk and Eibich, Peter and Emeny, Rebecca T and Fatemifar, Ghazaleh and Jessica Faul and Luigi Ferrucci and Andreas J Forstner and Gieger, Christian and Gupta, Richa and Tamara B Harris and Harris, Juliette M and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Jouke-Jan Hottenga and Philip L de Jager and Marika A Kaakinen and Kajantie, Eero and Karhunen, Ville and Kolcic, Ivana and Kumari, Meena and Lenore J Launer and Lude L Franke and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Koini, Marisa and Loukola, Anu and Marques-Vidal, Pedro and Grant W Montgomery and Mosing, Miriam A and Paternoster, Lavinia and Pattie, Alison and Katja E Petrovic and Pulkki-Raback, Laura and Quaye, Lydia and Katri R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen and Rudan, Igor and Rodney J Scott and Jennifer A Smith and Angelina R Sutin and Trzaskowski, Maciej and Anna A E Vinkhuyzen and Lei Yu and Zabaneh, Delilah and John R. Attia and David A Bennett and Klaus Berger and Bertram, Lars and Dorret I Boomsma and Snieder, Harold and Chang, Shun-Chiao and Francesco Cucca and Ian J Deary and Cornelia M van Duijn and Johan G Eriksson and B{\"u}ltmann, Ute and Eco J. C. de Geus and Groenen, Patrick J F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hansen, Torben and Catharina A Hartman and Haworth, Claire M A and Caroline Hayward and Andrew C Heath and Hinds, David A and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Iacono, William G and J{\"a}rvelin, Marjo-Riitta and J{\"o}ckel, Karl-Heinz and Kaprio, Jaakko and Sharon L R Kardia and Keltikangas-J{\"a}rvinen, Liisa and Kraft, Peter and Laura D Kubzansky and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Patrik K E Magnusson and Nicholas G Martin and McGue, Matt and Andres Metspalu and Melinda C Mills and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Pasterkamp, Gerard and Nancy L Pedersen and Plomin, Robert and Polasek, Ozren and Power, Christine and Rich, Stephen S and Rosendaal, Frits R and Hester M. den Ruijter and Schlessinger, David and Schmidt, Helena and Svento, Rauli and Schmidt, Reinhold and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z and Thorkild I. A. S{\o}rensen and Timothy Spector and Andrew Steptoe and Antonio Terracciano and A. Roy Thurik and Nicholas J Timpson and Henning Tiemeier and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Vollenweider, Peter and Wagner, Gert G and David R Weir and Yang, Jian and Dalton C Conley and Hofman, Albert and Johannesson, Magnus and David I Laibson and Sarah E Medland and Meyer, Michelle N and Pickrell, Joseph K and T{\~o}nu Esko and Krueger, Robert F and Jonathan P. Beauchamp and Philipp D Koellinger and Daniel J. Benjamin and Bartels, Meike and Cesarini, David} } @article {8881, title = {Genome-wide analysis identifies 12 loci influencing human reproductive behavior.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {48}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec}, pages = {1462-1472}, abstract = {

The genetic architecture of human reproductive behavior-age at first birth (AFB) and number of children ever born (NEB)-has a strong relationship with fitness, human development, infertility and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, very few genetic loci have been identified, and the underlying mechanisms of AFB and NEB are poorly understood. We report a large genome-wide association study of both sexes including 251,151 individuals for AFB and 343,072 individuals for NEB. We identified 12 independent loci that are significantly associated with AFB and/or NEB in a SNP-based genome-wide association study and 4 additional loci associated in a gene-based effort. These loci harbor genes that are likely to have a role, either directly or by affecting non-local gene expression, in human reproduction and infertility, thereby increasing understanding of these complex traits.

}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3698}, author = {Nicola Barban and Jansen, Rick and de Vlaming, Ronald and Vaez, Ahmad and Mandemakers, Jornt J and Felix C Tropf and Shen, Xia and James F Wilson and Daniel I Chasman and Ilja M Nolte and Tragante, Vinicius and van der Laan, Sander W and Perry, John R B and Kong, Augustine and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Albrecht, Eva and Laura M Yerges-Armstrong and Atzmon, Gil and Auro, Kirsi and Kristin L. Ayers and Bakshi, Andrew and Ben-Avraham, Danny and Klaus Berger and Bergman, Aviv and Bertram, Lars and Bielak, Lawrence F and Bjornsdottir, Gyda and Bonder, Marc Jan and Broer, Linda and Bui, Minh and Barbieri, Caterina and Cavadino, Alana and Chavarro, Jorge E and Turman, Constance and Maria Pina Concas and Cordell, Heather J and Gail Davies and Eibich, Peter and Eriksson, Nicholas and T{\~o}nu Esko and Eriksson, Joel and Falahi, Fahimeh and Felix, Janine F and Mark Alan Fontana and Lude L Franke and Gandin, Ilaria and Gaskins, Audrey J and Gieger, Christian and Gunderson, Erica P and Guo, Xiuqing and Caroline Hayward and He, Chunyan and Edith Hofer and Huang, Hongyan and Joshi, Peter K and Kanoni, Stavroula and Karlsson, Robert and Kiechl, Stefan and Kifley, Annette and Kluttig, Alexander and Kraft, Peter and Lagou, Vasiliki and Lecoeur, Cecile and Lahti, Jari and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Penelope A Lind and Tian Liu and Makalic, Enes and Mamasoula, Crysovalanto and Lindsay K Matteson and Mbarek, Hamdi and McArdle, Patrick F and McMahon, George and Meddens, S Fleur W and Mihailov, Evelin and Michael B Miller and Missmer, Stacey A and Monnereau, Claire and van der Most, Peter J and Myhre, Ronny and Michael A Nalls and Nutile, Teresa and Ioanna Panagiota Kalafati and Porcu, Eleonora and Prokopenko, Inga and Rajan, Kumar B and Rich-Edwards, Janet and Cornelius A Rietveld and Robino, Antonietta and Rose, Lynda M and Rueedi, Rico and Ryan, Kathleen A and Saba, Yasaman and Schmidt, Daniel and Jennifer A Smith and Stolk, Lisette and Streeten, Elizabeth and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Ulivi, Sheila and Wedenoja, Juho and J{\"u}rgen Wellmann and Willeit, Peter and Yao, Jie and Yengo, Loic and Jing Hua Zhao and Wei Zhao and Zhernakova, Daria V and Amin, Najaf and Andrews, Howard and Balkau, Beverley and Barzilai, Nir and Bergmann, Sven and Biino, Ginevra and Bisgaard, Hans and B{\o}nnelykke, Klaus and Dorret I Boomsma and Buring, Julie E and Campbell, Harry and Cappellani, Stefania and Ciullo, Marina and Cox, Simon R and Francesco Cucca and Toniolo, Daniela and Davey-Smith, George and Ian J Deary and George Dedoussis and Deloukas, Panos and Cornelia M van Duijn and Eco J. C. de Geus and Johan G Eriksson and Jessica Faul and Cinzia Felicita Sala and Froguel, Philippe and Paolo P. Gasparini and Giorgia G Girotto and Hans-J{\"o}rgen Grabe and Greiser, Karin Halina and Groenen, Patrick J F and de Haan, Hugoline G and Haerting, Johannes and Tamara B Harris and Andrew C Heath and Heikkil{\"a}, Kauko and Hofman, Albert and Homuth, Georg and Holliday, Elizabeth G and John L Hopper and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Jacobsson, Bo and Vincent Jaddoe and Johannesson, Magnus and Jugessur, Astanand and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kajantie, Eero and Sharon L R Kardia and Keavney, Bernard and Kolcic, Ivana and Koponen, P{\"a}ivikki and Kovacs, Peter and Kronenberg, Florian and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and La Bianca, Martina and Lachance, Genevieve and Iacono, William G and Lai, Sandra and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and David C Liewald and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Yongmei Liu and Luben, Robert and Lucht, Michael and Luoto, Riitta and Magnus, Per and Patrik K E Magnusson and Nicholas G Martin and McGue, Matt and McQuillan, Ruth and Sarah E Medland and Meisinger, Christa and Mellstr{\"o}m, Dan and Andres Metspalu and Traglia, Michela and Lili Milani and Mitchell, Paul and Grant W Montgomery and Dennis O Mook-Kanamori and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and Nohr, Ellen A and Ohlsson, Claes and Olsen, J{\o}rn and Ong, Ken K and Paternoster, Lavinia and Pattie, Alison and Brenda W J H Penninx and Markus Perola and Peyser, Patricia A and Pirastu, Mario and Polasek, Ozren and Power, Chris and Kaprio, Jaakko and Raffel, Leslie J and Katri R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen and Olli T Raitakari and Ridker, Paul M and Ring, Susan M and Roll, Kathryn and Rudan, Igor and Ruggiero, Daniela and Rujescu, Dan and Veikko Salomaa and Schlessinger, David and Schmidt, Helena and Schmidt, Reinhold and Schupf, Nicole and Johannes H Smit and Sorice, Rossella and Timothy Spector and John M Starr and St{\"o}ckl, Doris and Strauch, Konstantin and Stumvoll, Michael and Swertz, Morris A and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and A. Roy Thurik and Nicholas J Timpson and Tung, Joyce Y and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Vaccargiu, Simona and Viikari, Jorma and Vitart, Veronique and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Vollenweider, Peter and Vuckovic, Dragana and Waage, Johannes and Wagner, Gert G and Wang, Jie Jin and Wareham, Nicholas J and David R Weir and Gonneke Willemsen and Willeit, Johann and Alan F Wright and Krina T Zondervan and Stefansson, Kari and Krueger, Robert F and Lee, James J and Daniel J. Benjamin and Cesarini, David and Philipp D Koellinger and den Hoed, Marcel and Snieder, Harold and Melinda C Mills} } @article {8607, title = {GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY (GWAS) AND GENOME-WIDE BY ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION STUDY (GWEIS) OF DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND HISPANIC/LATINA WOMEN.}, journal = {Depress Anxiety}, volume = {33}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Apr}, pages = {265-80}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have made little progress in identifying variants linked to depression. We hypothesized that examining depressive symptoms and considering gene-environment interaction (GxE) might improve efficiency for gene discovery. We therefore conducted a GWAS and genome-wide by environment interaction study (GWEIS) of depressive symptoms.

METHODS: Using data from the SHARe cohort of the Women{\textquoteright}s Health Initiative, comprising African Americans (n = 7,179) and Hispanics/Latinas (n = 3,138), we examined genetic main effects and GxE with stressful life events and social support. We also conducted a heritability analysis using genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA). Replication was attempted in four independent cohorts.

RESULTS: No SNPs achieved genome-wide significance for main effects in either discovery sample. The top signals in African Americans were rs73531535 (located 20 kb from GPR139, P = 5.75 {\texttimes} 10(-8) ) and rs75407252 (intronic to CACNA2D3, P = 6.99 {\texttimes} 10(-7) ). In Hispanics/Latinas, the top signals were rs2532087 (located 27 kb from CD38, P = 2.44 {\texttimes} 10(-7) ) and rs4542757 (intronic to DCC, P = 7.31 {\texttimes} 10(-7) ). In the GEWIS with stressful life events, one interaction signal was genome-wide significant in African Americans (rs4652467; P = 4.10 {\texttimes} 10(-10) ; located 14 kb from CEP350). This interaction was not observed in a smaller replication cohort. Although heritability estimates for depressive symptoms and stressful life events were each less than 10\%, they were strongly genetically correlated (rG = 0.95), suggesting that common variation underlying self-reported depressive symptoms and stressful life event exposure, though modest on their own, were highly overlapping in this sample.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results underscore the need for larger samples, more GEWIS, and greater investigation into genetic and environmental determinants of depressive symptoms in minorities.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Aged, depression, Female, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hispanic Americans, Humans, Life Change Events, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Self Report}, issn = {1520-6394}, doi = {10.1002/da.22484}, author = {Dunn, Erin C and Wiste, Anna and Radmanesh, Farid and Almli, Lynn M and Gogarten, Stephanie M and Sofer, Tamar and Jessica Faul and Sharon L R Kardia and Jennifer A Smith and David R Weir and Wei Zhao and Soare, Thomas W and Saira S Mirza and Karin Hek and Henning Tiemeier and Goveas, Joseph S and Sarto, Gloria E and Snively, Beverly M and Marilyn C Cornelis and Karestan C Koenen and Kraft, Peter and Shaun M Purcell and Ressler, Kerry J and Rosand, Jonathan and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Smoller, Jordan W} } @article {8883, title = {Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {533}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 05 26}, pages = {539-42}, abstract = {

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20\% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

}, keywords = {Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, Bipolar Disorder, Cognitive Ability, Education, Fetus, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Schizophrenia, United Kingdom}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature17671}, author = {Okbay, Aysu and Jonathan P. Beauchamp and Mark Alan Fontana and Lee, James J and Pers, Tune H and Cornelius A Rietveld and Turley, Patrick and Chen, Guo-Bo and Emilsson, Valur and Meddens, S Fleur W and Oskarsson, Sven and Pickrell, Joseph K and Thom, Kevin and Pascal N Timshel and de Vlaming, Ronald and Abdel Abdellaoui and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Bacelis, Jonas and Baumbach, Clemens and Bjornsdottir, Gyda and Brandsma, Johannes H and Maria Pina Concas and Derringer, Jaime and Furlotte, Nicholas A and Galesloot, Tessel E and Giorgia G Girotto and Gupta, Richa and Hall, Leanne M and Sarah E Harris and Edith Hofer and Horikoshi, Momoko and Huffman, Jennifer E and Kaasik, Kadri and Ioanna Panagiota Kalafati and Karlsson, Robert and Kong, Augustine and Lahti, Jari and Sven J van der Lee and Christiaan de Leeuw and Penelope A Lind and Lindgren, Karl-Oskar and Tian Liu and Mangino, Massimo and Marten, Jonathan and Mihailov, Evelin and Michael B Miller and van der Most, Peter J and Christopher J Oldmeadow and Payton, Antony and Pervjakova, Natalia and Wouter J Peyrot and Qian, Yong and Olli T Raitakari and Rueedi, Rico and Salvi, Erika and Schmidt, B{\"o}rge and Schraut, Katharina E and Jianxin Shi and Albert Vernon Smith and Poot, Raymond A and St Pourcain, Beate and Teumer, Alexander and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Verweij, Niek and Vuckovic, Dragana and J{\"u}rgen Wellmann and Westra, Harm-Jan and Yang, Jingyun and Wei Zhao and Zhihong Zhu and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z and Amin, Najaf and Bakshi, Andrew and Baumeister, Sebastian E and Biino, Ginevra and B{\o}nnelykke, Klaus and Patricia A. Boyle and Campbell, Harry and Cappuccio, Francesco P and Gail Davies and De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel and Deloukas, Panos and Demuth, Ilja and Ding, Jun and Eibich, Peter and Eisele, Lewin and Eklund, Niina and Jessica Faul and Feitosa, Mary F and Andreas J Forstner and Gandin, Ilaria and Gunnarsson, Bjarni and Halld{\'o}rsson, Bjarni V and Tamara B Harris and Andrew C Heath and Lynne J Hocking and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Homuth, Georg and Horan, Michael A and Jouke-Jan Hottenga and Philip L de Jager and Joshi, Peter K and Jugessur, Astanand and Marika A Kaakinen and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kanoni, Stavroula and Keltigangas-J{\"a}rvinen, Liisa and Lambertus A Kiemeney and Kolcic, Ivana and Koskinen, Seppo and Kraja, Aldi T and Kroh, Martin and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Latvala, Antti and Lenore J Launer and Lebreton, Ma{\"e}l P and Douglas F Levinson and Paul Lichtenstein and Lichtner, Peter and David C Liewald and Loukola, Anu and Pamela A F Madden and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and M{\"a}ki-Opas, Tomi and Riccardo E Marioni and Marques-Vidal, Pedro and Meddens, Gerardus A and McMahon, George and Meisinger, Christa and Meitinger, Thomas and Milaneschi, Yusplitri and Lili Milani and Grant W Montgomery and Myhre, Ronny and Nelson, Christopher P and Nyholt, Dale R and William E R Ollier and Aarno Palotie and Paternoster, Lavinia and Nancy L Pedersen and Katja E Petrovic and David J Porteous and Katri R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen and Ring, Susan M and Robino, Antonietta and Rostapshova, Olga and Rudan, Igor and Rustichini, Aldo and Veikko Salomaa and Sanders, Alan R and Sarin, Antti-Pekka and Schmidt, Helena and Rodney J Scott and Smith, Blair H and Jennifer A Smith and Staessen, Jan A and Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth and Strauch, Konstantin and Antonio Terracciano and Tobin, Martin D and Ulivi, Sheila and Vaccargiu, Simona and Quaye, Lydia and van Rooij, Frank J A and Venturini, Cristina and Anna A E Vinkhuyzen and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Vonk, Judith M and Vozzi, Diego and Waage, Johannes and Erin B Ware and Gonneke Willemsen and John R. Attia and David A Bennett and Klaus Berger and Bertram, Lars and Bisgaard, Hans and Dorret I Boomsma and Ingrid B Borecki and B{\"u}ltmann, Ute and Chabris, Christopher F and Francesco Cucca and Cusi, Daniele and Ian J Deary and George Dedoussis and Cornelia M van Duijn and Johan G Eriksson and Franke, Barbara and Lude L Franke and Paolo P. Gasparini and Gejman, Pablo V and Gieger, Christian and Hans-J{\"o}rgen Grabe and Gratten, Jacob and Groenen, Patrick J F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and van der Harst, Pim and Caroline Hayward and Hinds, David A and Hoffmann, Wolfgang and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Iacono, William G and Jacobsson, Bo and J{\"a}rvelin, Marjo-Riitta and J{\"o}ckel, Karl-Heinz and Kaprio, Jaakko and Sharon L R Kardia and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Lehrer, Steven F and Patrik K E Magnusson and Nicholas G Martin and McGue, Matt and Andres Metspalu and Pendleton, Neil and Brenda W J H Penninx and Markus Perola and Nicola Pirastu and Pirastu, Mario and Polasek, Ozren and Posthuma, Danielle and Power, Christine and Province, Michael A and Nilesh J Samani and Schlessinger, David and Schmidt, Reinhold and Thorkild I. A. S{\o}rensen and Timothy Spector and Stefansson, Kari and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and A. Roy Thurik and Nicholas J Timpson and Henning Tiemeier and Tung, Joyce Y and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Vitart, Veronique and Vollenweider, Peter and David R Weir and James F Wilson and Alan F Wright and Dalton C Conley and Krueger, Robert F and George Davey Smith and Hofman, Albert and David I Laibson and Sarah E Medland and Meyer, Michelle N and Yang, Jian and Johannesson, Magnus and Peter M Visscher and T{\~o}nu Esko and Philipp D Koellinger and Cesarini, David and Daniel J. Benjamin} } @article {8614, title = {GWAS analysis of handgrip and lower body strength in older adults in the CHARGE consortium.}, journal = {Aging Cell}, volume = {15}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 10}, pages = {792-800}, abstract = {

Decline in muscle strength with aging is an important predictor of health trajectory in the elderly. Several factors, including genetics, are proposed contributors to variability in muscle strength. To identify genetic contributors to muscle strength, a meta-analysis of genomewide association studies of handgrip was conducted. Grip strength was measured using a handheld dynamometer in 27~581 individuals of European descent over 65~years of age from 14 cohort studies. Genomewide association analysis was conducted on ~2.7 million imputed and genotyped variants (SNPs). Replication of the most significant findings was conducted using data from 6393 individuals from three cohorts. GWAS of lower body strength was also characterized in a subset of cohorts. Two genomewide significant (P-value< 5~{\texttimes}~10(-8) ) and 39 suggestive (P-value< 5~{\texttimes}~10(-5) ) associations were observed from meta-analysis of the discovery cohorts. After meta-analysis with replication cohorts, genomewide significant association was observed for rs752045 on chromosome 8 (β~=~0.47, SE~=~0.08, P-value~=~5.20~{\texttimes}~10(-10) ). This SNP is mapped to an intergenic region and is located within an accessible chromatin region (DNase hypersensitivity site) in skeletal muscle myotubes differentiated from the human skeletal muscle myoblasts cell line. This locus alters a binding motif of the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-β (CEBPB) that is implicated in muscle repair mechanisms. GWAS of lower body strength did not yield significant results. A common genetic variant in a chromosomal region that regulates myotube differentiation and muscle repair may contribute to variability in grip strength in the elderly. Further studies are needed to uncover the mechanisms that link this genetic variant with muscle strength.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation, Cohort Studies, Epigenesis, Genetic, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hand Strength, Humans, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Muscle Strength, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1474-9726}, doi = {10.1111/acel.12468}, author = {Amy M Matteini and Toshiko Tanaka and Karasik, David and Atzmon, Gil and Chou, Wen-Chi and John D Eicher and Andrew D Johnson and Alice M. Arnold and Michele L Callisaya and Gail Davies and Daniel S Evans and Holtfreter, Birte and Kurt Lohman and Kathryn L Lunetta and Mangino, Massimo and Albert Vernon Smith and Jennifer A Smith and Teumer, Alexander and Lei Yu and Dan E Arking and Aron S Buchman and Chibinik, Lori B and Philip L de Jager and Jessica Faul and Melissa E Garcia and Gillham-Nasenya, Irina and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hofman, Albert and Hsu, Yi-Hsiang and Ittermann, Till and Lahousse, Lies and David C Liewald and Yongmei Liu and Lopez, Lorna and Fernando Rivadeneira and Rotter, Jerome I and Siggeirsdottir, Kristin and John M Starr and Thomson, Russell and Tranah, Gregory J and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and David R Weir and Kristine Yaffe and Wei Zhao and Wei Vivian Zhuang and Zmuda, Joseph M and David A Bennett and Steven R Cummings and Ian J Deary and Luigi Ferrucci and Tamara B Harris and Sharon L R Kardia and Kocher, Thomas and Stephen B Kritchevsky and Psaty, Bruce M and Seshadri, Sudha and Timothy Spector and Velandai K Srikanth and Beverly G Windham and Zillikens, M Carola and Anne B Newman and Jeremy D Walston and Douglas P Kiel and Joanne M Murabito} } @article {8297, title = {Genetic contributions to variation in general cognitive function: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in the CHARGE consortium (N=53949).}, journal = {Mol Psychiatry}, volume = {20}, year = {2015}, note = {Times Cited: 0 0}, month = {2015 Feb}, pages = {183-92}, publisher = {20}, abstract = {

General cognitive function is substantially heritable across the human life course from adolescence to old age. We investigated the genetic contribution to variation in this important, health- and well-being-related trait in middle-aged and older adults. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of 31 cohorts (N=53,949) in which the participants had undertaken multiple, diverse cognitive tests. A general cognitive function phenotype was tested for, and created in each cohort by principal component analysis. We report 13 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations in three genomic regions, 6q16.1, 14q12 and 19q13.32 (best SNP and closest gene, respectively: rs10457441, P=3.93 {\texttimes} 10(-9), MIR2113; rs17522122, P=2.55 {\texttimes} 10(-8), AKAP6; rs10119, P=5.67 {\texttimes} 10(-9), APOE/TOMM40). We report one gene-based significant association with the HMGN1 gene located on chromosome 21 (P=1 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). These genes have previously been associated with neuropsychiatric phenotypes. Meta-analysis results are consistent with a polygenic model of inheritance. To estimate SNP-based heritability, the genome-wide complex trait analysis procedure was applied to two large cohorts, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (N=6617) and the Health and Retirement Study (N=5976). The proportion of phenotypic variation accounted for by all genotyped common SNPs was 29\% (s.e.=5\%) and 28\% (s.e.=7\%), respectively. Using polygenic prediction analysis, ~1.2\% of the variance in general cognitive function was predicted in the Generation Scotland cohort (N=5487; P=1.5 {\texttimes} 10(-17)). In hypothesis-driven tests, there was significant association between general cognitive function and four genes previously associated with Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease: TOMM40, APOE, ABCG1 and MEF2C.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Atherosclerosis, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Cohort Studies, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, HMGN1 Protein, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological tests, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Scotland}, issn = {1476-5578}, doi = {10.1038/mp.2014.188}, author = {Gail Davies and Armstrong, N. and Joshua C. Bis and Bressler, J. and Chouraki, V. and Giddaluru, S. and Edith Hofer and Carla A Ibrahim-Verbaas and Kirin, M. and J. Lahti and Sven J van der Lee and Stephanie Le Hellard and Tian Liu and Riccardo E Marioni and Christopher J Oldmeadow and Postmus, I. and Albert Vernon Smith} } @article {8882, title = {Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {518}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb 12}, pages = {197-206}, abstract = {

Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P~<~5~{\texttimes}~10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for \~{}2.7\% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20\% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, BMI, Continental Population Groups, Energy Metabolism, Europe, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Glutamic Acid, Humans, Insulin, Male, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Synapses}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature14177}, author = {Locke, Adam E and Kahali, Bratati and Berndt, Sonja I and Justice, Anne E and Pers, Tune H and Day, Felix R and Powell, Corey and Vedantam, Sailaja and Buchkovich, Martin L and Yang, Jian and Croteau-Chonka, Damien C and T{\~o}nu Esko and Fall, Tove and Ferreira, Teresa and Gustafsson, Stefan and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Randall, Joshua C and Thomas W Winkler and Andrew R Wood and Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie and Jessica Faul and Jennifer A Smith and Jing Hua Zhao and Wei Zhao and Chen, Jin and Rudolf Ferhmann and Hedman, {\r A}sa K and Karjalainen, Juha and Schmidt, Ellen M and Absher, Devin and Amin, Najaf and Anderson, Denise and Beekman, Marian and Bolton, Jennifer L and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L and Buyske, Steven and Demirkan, Ayse and Deng, Guohong and Georg B Ehret and Feenstra, Bjarke and Feitosa, Mary F and Fischer, Krista and Goel, Anuj and Gong, Jian and Jackson, Anne U and Kanoni, Stavroula and Kleber, Marcus E and Kristiansson, Kati and Lim, Unhee and Lotay, Vaneet and Mangino, Massimo and Irene Mateo Leach and Medina-Gomez, Carolina and Sarah E Medland and Michael A Nalls and Palmer, Cameron D and Pasko, Dorota and Pechlivanis, Sonali and Peters, Marjolein J and Prokopenko, Inga and Shungin, Dmitry and Stan{\v c}{\'a}kov{\'a}, Alena and Strawbridge, Rona J and Yun Ju Sung and Toshiko Tanaka and Teumer, Alexander and Trompet, Stella and van der Laan, Sander W and van Setten, Jessica and Jana V. van Vliet-Ostaptchouk and Wang, Zhaoming and Yengo, Loic and Zhang, Weihua and Isaacs, Aaron and Albrecht, Eva and {\"A}rnl{\"o}v, Johan and Arscott, Gillian M and Attwood, Antony P and Bandinelli, Stefania and Barrett, Amy and Bas, Isabelita N and Bellis, Claire and Bennett, Amanda J and Berne, Christian and Blagieva, Roza and Bl{\"u}her, Matthias and B{\"o}hringer, Stefan and Bonnycastle, Lori L and B{\"o}ttcher, Yvonne and Boyd, Heather A and Bruinenberg, Marcel and Caspersen, Ida H and Yii-Der I Chen and Robert Clark and Daw, E Warwick and de Craen, Anton J M and Delgado, Graciela and Dimitriou, Maria and Doney, Alex S F and Eklund, Niina and Estrada, Karol and Eury, Elodie and Folkersen, Lasse and Fraser, Ross M and Melissa E Garcia and Geller, Frank and Giedraitis, Vilmantas and Gigante, Bruna and Alan S Go and Golay, Alain and Goodall, Alison H and Gordon, Scott D and Gorski, Mathias and Hans-J{\"o}rgen Grabe and Grallert, Harald and Grammer, Tanja B and Gr{\"a}{\ss}ler, J{\"u}rgen and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Groves, Christopher J and Gusto, Ga{\"e}lle and Jeffrey Haessler and Hall, Per and Haller, Toomas and Hallmans, G{\"o}ran and Catharina A Hartman and Hassinen, Maija and Caroline Hayward and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Helmer, Quinta and Hengstenberg, Christian and Oddgeir L Holmen and Jouke-Jan Hottenga and James, Alan L and Janina Jeff and Johansson, {\r A}sa and Jolley, Jennifer and Juliusdottir, Thorhildur and Kinnunen, Leena and Koenig, Wolfgang and Koskenvuo, Markku and Kratzer, Wolfgang and Laitinen, Jaana and Lamina, Claudia and Leander, Karin and Lee, Nanette R and Lichtner, Peter and Lars Lind and Lindstr{\"o}m, Jaana and Ken Sin Lo and Lobbens, St{\'e}phane and Lorbeer, Roberto and Lu, Yingchang and Mach, Fran{\c c}ois and Patrik K E Magnusson and Mahajan, Anubha and McArdle, Wendy L and McLachlan, Stela and Menni, Cristina and Merger, Sigrun and Mihailov, Evelin and Lili Milani and Moayyeri, Alireza and Monda, Keri L and Morken, Mario A and Mulas, Antonella and M{\"u}ller, Gabriele and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Musk, Arthur W and Nagaraja, Ramaiah and Markus M N{\"o}then and Ilja M Nolte and Pilz, Stefan and Nigel W Rayner and Renstrom, Frida and Rettig, Rainer and Ried, Janina S and Ripke, Stephan and Neil R Robertson and Rose, Lynda M and Sanna, Serena and Scharnagl, Hubert and Scholtens, Salome and Schumacher, Fredrick R and Scott, William R and Seufferlein, Thomas and Jianxin Shi and Albert Vernon Smith and Smolonska, Joanna and Stanton, Alice V and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Kathleen E Stirrups and Heather M Stringham and Sundstr{\"o}m, Johan and Swertz, Morris A and Swift, Amy J and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Tan, Sian-Tsung and Bamidele O Tayo and Thorand, Barbara and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Tyrer, Jonathan P and Uh, Hae-Won and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Verhulst, Frank C and Vermeulen, Sita H and Verweij, Niek and Vonk, Judith M and Lindsay L Waite and Warren, Helen R and Dawn M Waterworth and Michael N Weedon and Wilkens, Lynne R and Willenborg, Christina and Wilsgaard, Tom and Wojczynski, Mary K and Wong, Andrew and Alan F Wright and Zhang, Qunyuan and Brennan, Eoin P and Murim Choi and Dastani, Zari and Alexander W Drong and Eriksson, Per and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and G{\r a}din, Jesper R and Gharavi, Ali G and Goddard, Michael E and Handsaker, Robert E and Huang, Jinyan and Karpe, Fredrik and Kathiresan, Sekar and Keildson, Sarah and Kiryluk, Krzysztof and Kubo, Michiaki and Lee, Jong-Young and Liang, Liming and Lifton, Richard P and Ma, Baoshan and McCarroll, Steven A and McKnight, Amy J and Min, Josine L and Moffatt, Miriam F and Grant W Montgomery and Joanne M Murabito and Nicholson, George and Nyholt, Dale R and Okada, Yukinori and Perry, John R B and Dorajoo, Rajkumar and Reinmaa, Eva and Salem, Rany M and Sandholm, Niina and Scott, Robert A and Stolk, Lisette and Takahashi, Atsushi and Tanaka, Toshihiro and Ferdinand M van {\textquoteright}t Hooft and Anna A E Vinkhuyzen and Westra, Harm-Jan and Wei Zhang and Krina T Zondervan and Andrew C Heath and Arveiler, Dominique and Bakker, Stephan J L and Beilby, John and Bergman, Richard N and Blangero, John and Bovet, Pascal and Campbell, Harry and Caulfield, Mark J and Cesana, Giancarlo and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Daniel I Chasman and Chines, Peter S and Collins, Francis S and Crawford, Dana C and Cupples, L Adrienne and Cusi, Daniele and Danesh, John and de Faire, Ulf and Hester M den Ruijter and Dominiczak, Anna F and Erbel, Raimund and Erdmann, Jeanette and Johan G Eriksson and Farrall, Martin and Felix, Stephan B and Ferrannini, Ele and Ferri{\`e}res, Jean and Ford, Ian and Forouhi, Nita G and Forrester, Terrence and Franco, Oscar H and Gansevoort, Ron T and Gejman, Pablo V and Gieger, Christian and Gottesman, Omri and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gyllensten, Ulf and Hall, Alistair S and Tamara B Harris and Andrew T Hattersley and Hicks, Andrew A and Hindorff, Lucia A and Aroon Hingorani and Hofman, Albert and Homuth, Georg and Hovingh, G Kees and Humphries, Steve E and Hunt, Steven C and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Illig, Thomas and Jacobs, Kevin B and J{\"a}rvelin, Marjo-Riitta and J{\"o}ckel, Karl-Heinz and Johansen, Berit and Jousilahti, Pekka and Jukema, J Wouter and Jula, Antti M and Kaprio, Jaakko and Kastelein, John J P and Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M and Lambertus A Kiemeney and Knekt, Paul and Kooner, Jaspal S and Charles Kooperberg and Kovacs, Peter and Kraja, Aldi T and Kumari, Meena and Kuusisto, Johanna and Lakka, Timo A and Langenberg, Claudia and Loic Le Marchand and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Lyssenko, Valeriya and M{\"a}nnist{\"o}, Satu and Marette, Andr{\'e} and Matise, Tara C and McKenzie, Colin A and McKnight, Barbara and Moll, Frans L and Morris, Andrew D and Morris, Andrew P and Murray, Jeffrey C and Nelis, Mari and Ohlsson, Claes and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Ong, Ken K and Pamela A F Madden and Pasterkamp, Gerard and Peden, John F and Peters, Annette and Postma, Dirkje S and Pramstaller, Peter P and Price, Jackie F and Qi, Lu and Olli T Raitakari and Rankinen, Tuomo and Rao, D C and Rice, Treva K and Ridker, Paul M and Rioux, John D and Ritchie, Marylyn D and Rudan, Igor and Veikko Salomaa and Nilesh J Samani and Saramies, Jouko and Sarzynski, Mark A and Schunkert, Heribert and Schwarz, Peter E H and Peter Sever and Alan R Shuldiner and Sinisalo, Juha and Stolk, Ronald P and Strauch, Konstantin and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Tremblay, Angelo and Tremoli, Elena and Virtamo, Jarmo and Vohl, Marie-Claude and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Gonneke Willemsen and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Zillikens, M Carola and Adair, Linda S and Amouyel, Philippe and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Assimes, Themistocles L and Bochud, Murielle and Boehm, Bernhard O and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bornstein, Stefan R and Erwin P Bottinger and Bouchard, Claude and Cauchi, St{\'e}phane and Chambers, John C and Chanock, Stephen J and Cooper, Richard S and de Bakker, Paul I W and George Dedoussis and Luigi Ferrucci and Franks, Paul W and Froguel, Philippe and Leif C Groop and Christopher A Haiman and Hamsten, Anders and Hui, Jennie and Hunter, David J and Hveem, Kristian and Kaplan, Robert C and Mika Kivim{\"a}ki and Kuh, Diana and Laakso, Markku and Yongmei Liu and Nicholas G Martin and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Melbye, Mads and Andres Metspalu and Moebus, Susanne and Munroe, Patricia B and Nj{\o}lstad, Inger and Ben A Oostra and Palmer, Colin N A and Nancy L Pedersen and Markus Perola and P{\'e}russe, Louis and Peters, Ulrike and Power, Chris and Quertermous, Thomas and Rauramaa, Rainer and Fernando Rivadeneira and Saaristo, Timo E and Saleheen, Danish and Sattar, Naveed and Eric E Schadt and Schlessinger, David and Eline P Slagboom and Snieder, Harold and Timothy Spector and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Stumvoll, Michael and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Uusitupa, Matti and van der Harst, Pim and Walker, Mark and Wallaschofski, Henri and Wareham, Nicholas J and Watkins, Hugh and David R Weir and Wichmann, H-Erich and James F Wilson and Zanen, Pieter and Ingrid B Borecki and Deloukas, Panos and Caroline S Fox and Iris M Heid and Jeff O{\textquoteright}Connell and David P Strachan and Stefansson, Kari and Cornelia M van Duijn and Gon{\c c}alo R Abecasis and Lude L Franke and Timothy M Frayling and McCarthy, Mark I and Peter M Visscher and Scherag, Andre and Willer, Cristen J and Boehnke, Michael and Mohlke, Karen L and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Beckmann, Jacques S and Barroso, In{\^e}s and Kari E North and Ingelsson, Erik and Joel N Hirschhron and Ruth J F Loos and Elizabeth K Speliotes} } @article {8612, title = {Genetic vulnerability to diabetes and obesity: does education offset the risk?}, journal = {Soc Sci Med}, volume = {127}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb}, pages = {150-8}, abstract = {

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity has recently increased dramatically. These common diseases are likely to arise from the interaction of multiple genetic, socio-demographic and environmental risk factors. While previous research has found genetic risk and education to be strong predictors of these diseases, few studies to date have examined their joint effects. This study investigates whether education modifies the association between genetic background and risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. Using data from non-Hispanic Whites in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, n~=~8398), we tested whether education modifies genetic risk for obesity and T2D, offsetting genetic effects; whether this effect is larger for individuals who have high risk for other (unobserved) reasons, i.e., at higher quantiles of HbA1c and BMI; and whether effects differ by gender. We measured T2D risk using Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, and obesity risk using body-mass index (BMI). We constructed separate genetic risk scores (GRS) for obesity and diabetes respectively based on the most current available information on the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) confirmed as genome-wide significant predictors for BMI (29 SNPs) and diabetes risk (39 SNPs). Linear regression models with years of schooling indicate that the effect of genetic risk on HbA1c is smaller among people with more years of schooling and larger among those with less than a high school (HS) degree compared to HS degree-holders. Quantile regression models show that the GRS~{\texttimes}~education effect systematically increased along the HbA1c outcome distribution; for example the GRS~{\texttimes}~years of education interaction coefficient was~-0.01 (95\% CI~=~-0.03, 0.00) at the 10th percentile compared to~-0.03 (95\% CI~=~-0.07, 0.00) at the 90th percentile. These results suggest that education may be an important socioeconomic source of heterogeneity in responses to genetic vulnerability to T2D.

}, keywords = {Aged, Body Mass Index, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Educational Status, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Glycated Hemoglobin A, Health Status Disparities, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Risk Factors, Social determinants of health}, issn = {1873-5347}, doi = {10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.009}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614005760}, author = {Sze Y Liu and Stefan Walter and Jessica R Marden and David Rehkopf and Laura D Kubzansky and Thu T Nguyen and M. Maria Glymour} } @article {10640, title = {Genetically predicted body mass index and Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease-related phenotypes in three large samples: Mendelian randomization analyses.}, journal = {Alzheimers Dement}, volume = {11}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec}, pages = {1439-1451}, abstract = {

Observational research shows that higher body mass index (BMI) increases Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease (AD) risk, but it is unclear whether this association is causal. We applied genetic variants that predict BMI in Mendelian randomization analyses, an approach that is not biased by reverse causation or confounding, to evaluate whether higher BMI increases AD risk. We evaluated individual-level data from the AD Genetics Consortium (ADGC: 10,079 AD cases and 9613 controls), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS: 8403 participants with algorithm-predicted dementia status), and published associations from the Genetic and Environmental Risk for AD consortium (GERAD1: 3177 AD cases and 7277 controls). No evidence from individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms or polygenic scores indicated BMI increased AD risk. Mendelian randomization effect estimates per BMI point (95\% confidence intervals) were as follows: ADGC, odds ratio (OR) = 0.95 (0.90-1.01); HRS, OR = 1.00 (0.75-1.32); GERAD1, OR = 0.96 (0.87-1.07). One subscore (cellular processes not otherwise specified) unexpectedly predicted lower AD risk.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer disease, Body Mass Index, Female, Genotype, Humans, Linear Models, Male, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Obesity, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1552-5279}, doi = {10.1016/j.jalz.2015.05.015}, author = {Mukherjee, Shubhabrata and Stefan Walter and Kauwe, John S K and Andrew J Saykin and David A Bennett and Eric B Larson and Paul K Crane and M. Maria Glymour} } @article {5888, title = {The Great Recession, Retirement and Related Outcomes}, year = {2015}, institution = {Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research}, abstract = {This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine retirement and related labor market outcomes for the Early Boomer cohort, those in their mid-fifties at the onset of the Great Recession. Outcomes are then compared with older cohorts at the same age. The Great Recession increased their probability of being laid off and the length of time it took to find other full-time employment. Differences in layoffs between those affected by the recession and members of older cohorts in turn accounted for almost the entire difference between cohorts in employment change with age. The Great Recession does not appear, however, to have depressed the wages in subsequent jobs for those who experienced a layoff. In 2010, 17 percent of the Early Boomers were Not Working and Not Retired or Partially Retired, and 6 percent were unemployed, leaving at least 9 percent who were not working and not unemployed but not retired or only partially retired. At the recession s peak, half of those who experienced a layoff ended up in the Not Retired or Partially Retired, Not Working category. But only a quarter of those who declared themselves to be Not Retired or Partially Retired, and were Not Working, had experienced a layoff. Most of the jump in Not Retired or Partially Retired, Not Working appears to reflect a change in expectations about the potential or need for future work, a change that is not the result of an actual job loss.}, keywords = {Employment and Labor Force, Expectations, Public Policy}, author = {Alan L Gustman and Thomas L. Steinmeier and N. Tabatabai} } @article {8606, title = {GWAS of longevity in CHARGE consortium confirms APOE and FOXO3 candidacy.}, journal = {J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci}, volume = {70}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan}, pages = {110-8}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The genetic contribution to longevity in humans has been estimated to range from 15\% to 25\%. Only two genes, APOE and FOXO3, have shown association with longevity in multiple independent studies.

METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies including 6,036 longevity cases, age >=90 years, and 3,757 controls that died between ages 55 and 80 years. We additionally attempted to replicate earlier identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations with longevity.

RESULTS: In our meta-analysis, we found suggestive evidence for the association of SNPs near CADM2 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.81; p value = 9.66 {\texttimes} 10(-7)) and GRIK2 (odds ratio = 1.24; p value = 5.09 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) with longevity. When attempting to replicate findings earlier identified in genome-wide association studies, only the APOE locus consistently replicated. In an additional look-up of the candidate gene FOXO3, we found that an earlier identified variant shows a highly significant association with longevity when including published data with our meta-analysis (odds ratio = 1.17; p value = 1.85{\texttimes}10(-10)).

CONCLUSIONS: We did not identify new genome-wide significant associations with longevity and did not replicate earlier findings except for APOE and FOXO3. Our inability to find new associations with survival to ages >=90 years because longevity represents multiple complex traits with heterogeneous genetic underpinnings, or alternatively, that longevity may be regulated by rare variants that are not captured by standard genome-wide genotyping and imputation of common variants.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Apolipoproteins E, Cell Adhesion Molecules, Cohort Studies, Female, Forkhead Box Protein O3, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Longevity, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Kainic Acid}, issn = {1758-535X}, doi = {10.1093/gerona/glu166}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4296168/}, author = {Broer, Linda and Aron S Buchman and Deelen, Joris and Daniel S Evans and Jessica Faul and Kathryn L Lunetta and Sebastiani, Paola and Jennifer A Smith and Albert Vernon Smith and Toshiko Tanaka and Lei Yu and Alice M. Arnold and Aspelund, Thor and Emelia J Benjamin and Philip L de Jager and Gu{\dh}ny Eir{\'\i}ksd{\'o}ttir and Melissa E Garcia and Hofman, Albert and Kaplan, Robert C and Sharon L R Kardia and Douglas P Kiel and Ben A Oostra and Orwoll, Eric S and Parimi, Neeta and Psaty, Bruce M and Fernando Rivadeneira and Rotter, Jerome I and Seshadri, Sudha and Andrew B Singleton and Henning Tiemeier and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Wei Zhao and Bandinelli, Stefania and David A Bennett and Luigi Ferrucci and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Tamara B Harris and Karasik, David and Lenore J Launer and Thomas T Perls and Eline P Slagboom and Tranah, Gregory J and David R Weir and Anne B Newman and Cornelia M van Duijn and Joanne M Murabito} } @article {8604, title = {Genetic diversity is a predictor of mortality in humans.}, journal = {BMC Genet}, volume = {15}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Dec 29}, pages = {159}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: It has been well-established, both by population genetics theory and direct observation in many organisms, that increased genetic diversity provides a survival advantage. However, given the limitations of both sample size and genome-wide metrics, this hypothesis has not been comprehensively tested in human populations. Moreover, the presence of numerous segregating small effect alleles that influence traits that directly impact health directly raises the question as to whether global measures of genomic variation are themselves associated with human health and disease.

RESULTS: We performed a meta-analysis of 17 cohorts followed prospectively, with a combined sample size of 46,716 individuals, including a total of 15,234 deaths. We find a significant association between increased heterozygosity and survival (P = 0.03). We estimate that within a single population, every standard deviation of heterozygosity an individual has over the mean decreases that person{\textquoteright}s risk of death by 1.57\%.

CONCLUSIONS: This effect was consistent between European and African ancestry cohorts, men and women, and major causes of death (cancer and cardiovascular disease), demonstrating the broad positive impact of genomic diversity on human survival.

}, keywords = {Genome-Wide Association Study, Heterozygote, Humans, Mortality, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models}, issn = {1471-2156}, doi = {10.1186/s12863-014-0159-7}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301661/}, author = {Bihlmeyer, Nathan A and Brody, Jennifer A and Albert Vernon Smith and Kathryn L Lunetta and Michael A Nalls and Jennifer A Smith and Toshiko Tanaka and Gail Davies and Lei Yu and Saira S Mirza and Teumer, Alexander and Coresh, Josef and Pankow, James S and Franceschini, Nora and Scaria, Anish and Oshima, Junko and Psaty, Bruce M and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gu{\dh}ny Eir{\'\i}ksd{\'o}ttir and Tamara B Harris and Li, Hanyue and Karasik, David and Douglas P Kiel and Melissa E Garcia and Yongmei Liu and Jessica Faul and Sharon L R Kardia and Wei Zhao and Luigi Ferrucci and Allerhand, Michael and David C Liewald and Redmond, Paul and John M Starr and Philip L de Jager and Nese Direk and Mohammed Arfan Ikram and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Homuth, Georg and Lorbeer, Roberto and Hans-J{\"o}rgen Grabe and Lenore J Launer and Joanne M Murabito and Andrew B Singleton and David R Weir and Bandinelli, Stefania and Ian J Deary and David A Bennett and Henning Tiemeier and Kocher, Thomas and Lumley, Thomas and Dan E Arking} } @article {8609, title = {Genomic assortative mating in marriages in the United States.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e112322}, abstract = {

Assortative mating in phenotype in human marriages has been widely observed. Using genome-wide genotype data from the Framingham Heart study (FHS; number of married couples = 989) and Health Retirement Survey (HRS; number of married couples = 3,474), this study investigates genomic assortative mating in human marriages. Two types of genomic marital correlations are calculated. The first is a correlation specific to a single married couple "averaged" over all available autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). In FHS, the average married-couple correlation is 0.0018 with p = 3 {\texttimes} 10(-5); in HRS, it is 0.0017 with p = 7.13 {\texttimes} 10(-13). The marital correlation among the positively assorting SNPs is 0.001 (p = .0043) in FHS and 0.015 (p = 1.66 {\texttimes} 10(-24)) in HRS. The sizes of these estimates in FHS and HRS are consistent with what are suggested by the distribution of the allelic combination. The study also estimated SNP-specific correlation "averaged" over all married couples. Suggestive evidence is reported. Future studies need to consider a more general form of genomic assortment, in which different allelic forms in homologous genes and non-homologous genes result in the same phenotype.

}, keywords = {Data collection, Female, Genome, Human, Genomics, Genotype, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Reproduction, United States}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0112322}, author = {Guo, Guang and Wang, Lin and Hexuan Liu and Randall, Thomas} } @article {5850, title = {The Great Recession, Decline and Rebound in Household Wealth for the Near Retirement Population}, year = {2014}, institution = {Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research}, abstract = {This paper uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the effects of the Great Recession on the wealth held by the near retirement age population from 2006 to 2012. For the Early Boomer cohort (ages 51 to 56 in 2004), real wealth in 2012 remained 3.6 percent below its 2006 value. This is a modest decline considering the fall in asset values during the Great Recession. Much of the decline in wealth over the 2006 to 2010 period was cushioned by wealth originating from Social Security and defined benefit pensions. For the most part, these are stable sums that ensured a major fraction of total wealth did not decline as a result of the recession. The rebound in asset values observed between 2010 and 2012 mitigated, but did not erase, the asset losses experienced in the first years of the Great Recession. Effects of the Great Recession varied with the household{\textquoteright}s initial wealth. Those who were in the highest wealth deciles typically had a larger share of their assets subject to the influence of declining markets, and were hurt most severely. Unlike those falling in lower wealth deciles, they have yet to regain all the wealth they lost during the recession. Recovering losses in assets is only part of the story. The assets held by members of the cohort nearing retirement at the onset of the recession would normally have grown over ensuing years. Members of older HRS cohorts accumulated assets rapidly in the years just before retirement. Those on the cusp of retiring at the onset of the recession would be much better off had they had enjoyed similar growth in assets as experienced by members of older cohorts. The bottom line is that the losses in assets imposed by the Great Recession were relatively modest. The recovery has helped. But much of the remaining penalty due to the Great Recession is in the failure of assets to grow beyond their initial levels.}, keywords = {Health Conditions and Status, Net Worth and Assets, Public Policy}, author = {Alan L Gustman and Thomas L. Steinmeier and N. Tabatabai} } @article {7900, title = {A Genetic IV Analysis to Assess the Effect of Body Mass Index on Depression in the Health And Retirement Study}, journal = {Am J Epidemiol}, volume = {177}, year = {2013}, pages = {S12}, publisher = {177}, abstract = {Background: The relationship between adiposity and mental health remains controversial despite extensive prior observational research. We use a genetic risk score (GRS) as an instrumental variable (IV) to estimate effects of increases in body mass index (BMI) on depressive symptoms. Methods: Data are from 11842 (whites = 10322, blacks = 1520) individuals from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study with data on a 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale and genetics collected in 2006 or 2008. Based on 32 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) known to predict BMI, we calculated a GRS as the sum of the number of risk alleles multiplied by the per allele effect size on BMI (based on prior publica- tions). We conducted over-identification tests with 4 IVs using subsets of the SNPs organized based on biological pathways (adiposity, appetite, and cardio-pulmonary factors) by which the genes might influence adiposity. Self-reported BMI prior to the assessment of CESD was used for validation of the external instrument. The CESD score was regressed on each genetic IV plus population stratification eigenvectors to derive the IV effect estimate. We compared these to conventional effect estimates derived from regressing CESD on self-reported BMI. Results: The GRS significantly predicted BMI in blacks (r2=0.016, p 0.001) and whites (r2=0.010, p 0.001). Self-reported BMI significantly predicted CESD, more strongly in whites (0.043, 95 -CI: 0.036, 0.05) than blacks (0.021, CI: 0.004, 0.038). IV effect estimates were large and statistically significant for whites (0.0 96, CI: 0.026, 0.167) but had very wide CIs for blacks (0.016, CI: -0.224, 0.256) . Over-identification tests showed no evidence of possible pleiotropy in the genetic risk score. Conclusions: Our IV analysis reveals that genotypes associated with BMI are also associated with depressive symptoms in whites, supporting a causal effect of BMI on depression.}, keywords = {Genetics, Health Conditions and Status, Public Policy}, author = {Stefan Walter and Mej{\'\i}a-Guevara, Iv{\'a}n and Eric J. Tchetgen Tchetgen and Karestan C Koenen and Ichiro Kawachi and Laura D Kubzansky and M. Maria Glymour} } @article {8608, title = {Genome-wide association analysis of blood-pressure traits in African-ancestry individuals reveals common associated genes in African and non-African populations.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {93}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep 05}, pages = {545-54}, abstract = {

High blood pressure (BP) is more prevalent and contributes to more severe manifestations of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in African Americans than in any other United States ethnic group. Several small African-ancestry (AA) BP genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been published, but their findings have failed to replicate to date. We report on a large AA BP GWAS meta-analysis that includes 29,378 individuals from 19 discovery cohorts and subsequent replication in additional samples of AA (n = 10,386), European ancestry (EA) (n = 69,395), and East Asian ancestry (n = 19,601). Five loci (EVX1-HOXA, ULK4, RSPO3, PLEKHG1, and SOX6) reached genome-wide significance (p < 1.0~{\texttimes} 10(-8)) for either systolic or diastolic BP in a transethnic meta-analysis after correction for multiple testing. Three of these BP loci (EVX1-HOXA, RSPO3, and PLEKHG1) lack previous associations with BP. We also identified one independent signal in a known BP locus (SOX6) and provide evidence for fine mapping in four additional validated BP loci. We also demonstrate that validated EA BP GWAS loci, considered jointly, show significant effects in AA samples. Consequently, these findings suggest that BP loci might have universal effects across studied populations, demonstrating that multiethnic samples are an essential component in identifying, fine mapping, and understanding their trait variability.

}, keywords = {Africa, African Continental Ancestry Group, Blood pressure, Cohort Studies, Databases, Genetic, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.07.010}, author = {Franceschini, Nora and Fox, Ervin and Zhang, Zhaogong and Edwards, Todd L and Michael A Nalls and Yun Ju Sung and Bamidele O Tayo and Yan V Sun and Gottesman, Omri and Adebawole Adeyemo and Andrew D Johnson and Young, J Hunter and Kenneth Rice and Duan, Qing and Chen, Fang and Yun Li and Tang, Hua and Myriam Fornage and Keene, Keith L and Andrews, Jeanette S and Jennifer A Smith and Jessica Faul and Guangfa, Zhang and Guo, Wei and Liu, Yu and Murray, Sarah S and Musani, Solomon K and Srinivasan, Sathanur and Digna R Velez Edwards and Wang, Heming and Becker, Lewis C and Bovet, Pascal and Bochud, Murielle and Broeckel, Ulrich and Burnier, Michel and Carty, Cara and Daniel I Chasman and Georg B Ehret and Chen, Wei-Min and Chen, Guanjie and Wei Chen and Ding, Jingzhong and Dreisbach, Albert W and Michele K Evans and Guo, Xiuqing and Melissa E Garcia and Jensen, Rich and Keller, Margaux F and Lettre, Guillaume and Lotay, Vaneet and Martin, Lisa W and Moore, Jason H and Alanna C Morrison and Thomas H Mosley and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Walter R Palmas and George J Papanicolaou and Alan Penman and Polak, Joseph F and Ridker, Paul M and Babatunde Salako and Andrew B Singleton and Daniel Shriner and Kent D Taylor and Ramachandran S Vasan and Kerri Wiggins and Williams, Scott M and Yanek, Lisa R and Wei Zhao and Alan B Zonderman and Becker, Diane M and Berenson, Gerald and Boerwinkle, Eric and Erwin P Bottinger and Cushman, Mary and Charles B Eaton and Nyberg, Fredrik and Gerardo Heiss and Joel N Hirschhron and Howard, Virginia J and Karczewsk, Konrad J and Lanktree, Matthew B and Liu, Kiang and Yongmei Liu and Ruth J F Loos and Margolis, Karen and Snyder, Michael and Psaty, Bruce M and Schork, Nicholas J and David R Weir and Charles N Rotimi and Sale, Michele M and Tamara B Harris and Sharon L R Kardia and Hunt, Steven C and Donna K Arnett and Redline, Susan and Cooper, Richard S and Neil Risch and Rao, D C and Rotter, Jerome I and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Reiner, Alex P and Levy, Daniel and Keating, Brendan J and Zhu, Xiaofeng} } @article {8620, title = {GWAS of 126,559 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with educational attainment.}, journal = {Science}, volume = {340}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jun 21}, pages = {1467-71}, abstract = {

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment was conducted in a discovery sample of 101,069 individuals and a replication sample of 25,490. Three independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genome-wide significant (rs9320913, rs11584700, rs4851266), and all three replicate. Estimated effects sizes are small (coefficient of determination R(2) ≈ 0.02\%), approximately 1 month of schooling per allele. A linear polygenic score from all measured SNPs accounts for ≈2\% of the variance in both educational attainment and cognitive function. Genes in the region of the loci have previously been associated with health, cognitive, and central nervous system phenotypes, and bioinformatics analyses suggest the involvement of the anterior caudate nucleus. These findings provide promising candidate SNPs for follow-up work, and our effect size estimates can anchor power analyses in social-science genetics.

}, keywords = {Cognition, Educational Status, Endophenotypes, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.1235488}, author = {Cornelius A Rietveld and Sarah E Medland and Derringer, Jaime and Yang, Jian and T{\~o}nu Esko and Martin, Nicolas W and Westra, Harm-Jan and Shakhbazov, Konstantin and Abdel Abdellaoui and Agrawal, Arpana and Albrecht, Eva and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z and Amin, Najaf and Barnard, John and Baumeister, Sebastian E and Benke, Kelly S and Bielak, Lawrence F and Boatman, Jeffrey A and Patricia A. Boyle and Gail Davies and Christiaan de Leeuw and Eklund, Niina and Daniel S Evans and Rudolf Ferhmann and Fischer, Krista and Gieger, Christian and Gjessing, H{\r a}kon K and H{\"a}gg, Sara and Harris, Jennifer R and Caroline Hayward and Holzapfel, Christina and Carla A Ibrahim-Verbaas and Ingelsson, Erik and Jacobsson, Bo and Joshi, Peter K and Jugessur, Astanand and Marika A Kaakinen and Kanoni, Stavroula and Karjalainen, Juha and Kolcic, Ivana and Kristiansson, Kati and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and J. Lahti and Lee, Sang H and Lin, Peng and Penelope A Lind and Yongmei Liu and Kurt Lohman and Loitfelder, Marisa and McMahon, George and Vidal, Pedro Marques and Osorio Meirelles and Lili Milani and Myhre, Ronny and Nuotio, Marja-Liisa and Christopher J Oldmeadow and Katja E Petrovic and Wouter J Peyrot and Polasek, Ozren and Quaye, Lydia and Reinmaa, Eva and Rice, John P and Rizzi, Thais S and Schmidt, Helena and Schmidt, Reinhold and Albert Vernon Smith and Jennifer A Smith and Toshiko Tanaka and Antonio Terracciano and van der Loos, Matthijs J H M and Vitart, Veronique and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and J{\"u}rgen Wellmann and Lei Yu and Wei Zhao and Allik, J{\"u}ri and John R. Attia and Bandinelli, Stefania and Bastardot, Fran{\c c}ois and Jonathan P. Beauchamp and David A Bennett and Klaus Berger and Laura Bierut and Dorret I Boomsma and B{\"u}ltmann, Ute and Campbell, Harry and Chabris, Christopher F and Cherkas, Lynn and Chung, Mina K and Francesco Cucca and de Andrade, Mariza and Philip L de Jager and De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel and Ian J Deary and George Dedoussis and Deloukas, Panos and Dimitriou, Maria and Gu{\dh}ny Eir{\'\i}ksd{\'o}ttir and Elderson, Martin F and Johan G Eriksson and Jessica Faul and Luigi Ferrucci and Melissa E Garcia and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Gu{\dh}nason, Vilmundur and Hall, Per and Harris, Juliette M and Tamara B Harris and Nicholas D Hastie and Andrew C Heath and Dena G Hernandez and Hoffmann, Wolfgang and Hofman, Adriaan and Holle, Rolf and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Jouke-Jan Hottenga and Iacono, William G and Illig, Thomas and J{\"a}rvelin, Marjo-Riitta and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kaprio, Jaakko and Kirkpatrick, Robert M and Kowgier, Matthew and Latvala, Antti and Lenore J Launer and Lawlor, Debbie A and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Li, Jingmei and Paul Lichtenstein and Lichtner, Peter and David C Liewald and Pamela A F Madden and Patrik K E Magnusson and M{\"a}kinen, Tomi E and Masala, Marco and McGue, Matt and Andres Metspalu and Mielck, Andreas and Michael B Miller and Grant W Montgomery and Mukherjee, Sutapa and Nyholt, Dale R and Ben A Oostra and Palmer, Lyle J and Aarno Palotie and Brenda W J H Penninx and Markus Perola and Peyser, Patricia A and Preisig, Martin and Katri R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen and Olli T Raitakari and Realo, Anu and Ring, Susan M and Ripatti, Samuli and Fernando Rivadeneira and Rudan, Igor and Rustichini, Aldo and Veikko Salomaa and Sarin, Antti-Pekka and Schlessinger, David and Rodney J Scott and Snieder, Harold and St Pourcain, Beate and John M Starr and Sul, Jae Hoon and Surakka, Ida and Svento, Rauli and Teumer, Alexander and Henning Tiemeier and van Rooij, Frank J A and Van Wagoner, David R and Vartiainen, Erkki and Viikari, Jorma and Vollenweider, Peter and Vonk, Judith M and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and David R Weir and Wichmann, H-Erich and Elisabeth Widen and Gonneke Willemsen and James F Wilson and Alan F Wright and Dalton C Conley and Davey-Smith, George and Lude L Franke and Groenen, Patrick J F and Hofman, Albert and Johannesson, Magnus and Sharon L R Kardia and Krueger, Robert F and David I Laibson and Nicholas G Martin and Meyer, Michelle N and Posthuma, Danielle and A. Roy Thurik and Nicholas J Timpson and Andr{\'e} G Uitterlinden and Cornelia M van Duijn and Peter M Visscher and Daniel J. Benjamin and Cesarini, David and Philipp D Koellinger} } @article {7736, title = {The growth in Social Security benefits among the retirement-age population from increases in the cap on covered earnings.}, journal = {Soc Secur Bull}, volume = {72}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {49-61}, publisher = {72}, abstract = {

Analysts have proposed raising the maximum level of earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax (the "tax max") to improve long-term Social Security Trust Fund solvency. This article investigates how raising the tax max leads to the "leakage" of portions of the additional revenue into higher benefit payments. Using Health and Retirement Study data matched to Social Security earnings records, we compare historical payroll tax payments and benefit amounts for Early Boomers (born 1948-1953) with tax and benefit simulations had they been subject to the tax max (adjusted for wage growth) faced by cohorts 12 and 24 years older. We find that 43.2 percent of the additional payroll tax revenue attributable to tax max increases affecting Early Boomers relative to taxes paid by the cohort 12 years older leaked into higher benefits. For Early Boomers relative to those 24 years older, we find 53.5 percent leakage.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cohort Studies, Female, Humans, Insurance Benefits, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Econometric, Public Policy, Salaries and Fringe Benefits, Social Security, Taxes, United States}, issn = {0037-7910}, url = {https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v72n2/v72n2p49.html}, author = {Alan L Gustman and Thomas L. Steinmeier and N. Tabatabai} } @article {5806, title = {The Growth in Social Security Benefits Among the Retirement Age Population from Increases in the Cap on Covered Earnings}, number = {16501}, year = {2010}, institution = {National Bureau of Economic Research}, address = {Cambridge, MA}, abstract = {This paper investigates how increases in the level of maximum earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax have affected Social Security benefits and taxes. The analysis uses data from the Health and Retirement Study to ask how different the present value of own benefits and taxes would be for the cohort born from 1948 to 1953 (ages 51 to 56 in 2004) if they faced the lower cap on the payroll tax that faced those born 12 and 24 years earlier, but otherwise had the same earnings stream and faced the same benefit formula. We find that for those in the Early Boomer cohort of the Health and Retirement Study, ages 51 to 56 in 2004, that after adjusting for nominal wage growth, benefits were increased by 1.5 percent by the increase in the payroll tax ceiling compared to the cohort 12 years older, and by 3.7 percent over the benefits under the payroll tax ceiling for the cohort 24 years older. Tax receipts were increased by 5.3 and 10.6 percent over tax receipts that would have been collected under the tax ceilings that applied to the cohorts 12 and 24 years older respectively. About 22 percent of the additional tax revenues created by the increase in the payroll tax cap between the Early Boomer cohort and those 12 years older led to increased benefits. Similarly, about 27 percent of the additional tax revenues created by the increase in the payroll tax cap between the Early Boomer cohort and those 24 years older led to increase benefits. Results are also presented separately for men and women, for those in the top quartile of earners, and for those at the tax ceiling throughout their work lives.}, keywords = {Demographics, Public Policy, Social Security}, doi = {10.3386/w16501}, author = {Alan L Gustman and Thomas L. Steinmeier and Tabatabai, Nahid} }