RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Shared genetic aetiology between cognitive functions and physical and mental health in UK Biobank (N = 112 151) and 24 GWAS consortia
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 031120
DO 10.1101/031120
A1 Saskia P Hagenaars
A1 Sarah E Harris
A1 Gail Davies
A1 W David Hill
A1 David CM Liewald
A1 Stuart J Ritchie
A1 Riccardo E Marioni
A1 Chloe Fawns-Ritchie
A1 Breda Cullen
A1 Rainer Malik
A1 METASTROKE consortium
A1 International Consortium for Blood Pressure GWAS
A1 SpiroMeta consortium
A1 CHARGE consortium Pulmonary Group
A1 CHARGE consortium Aging and Longevity Group
A1 Bradford B Worrall
A1 Cathie LM Sudlow
A1 Joanna M Wardlaw
A1 John Gallacher
A1 Jill Pell
A1 Andrew M McIntosh
A1 Daniel J Smith
A1 Catharine R Gale
A1 Ian J Deary
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/11/10/031120.abstract
AB The causes of the known associations between poorer cognitive function and many adverse neuropsychiatric outcomes, poorer physical health, and earlier death remain unknown. We used linkage disequilibrium regression and polygenic profile scoring to test for shared genetic aetiology between cognitive functions and neuropsychiatric disorders and physical health. Using information provided by many published genome-wide association study consortia, we created polygenic profile scores for 24 vascular-metabolic, neuropsychiatric, physiological-anthropometric, and cognitive traits in the participants of UK Biobank, a very large population-based sample (N = 112 151). Pleiotropy between cognitive and health traits was quantified by deriving genetic correlations using summary genome-wide association study statistics applied to the method of linkage disequilibrium regression. Substantial and significant genetic correlations were observed between cognitive test scores in the UK Biobank sample and many of the mental and physical health-related traits and disorders assessed here. In addition, highly significant associations were observed between the cognitive test scores in the UK Biobank sample and many polygenic profile scores, including coronary artery disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, autism, major depressive disorder, BMI, intracranial volume, infant head circumference, and childhood cognitive ability. Where disease diagnosis was available for UK Biobank participants we were able to show that these results were not confounded by those who had the relevant disease. These findings indicate that a substantial level of pleiotropy exists between cognitive abilities and many human mental and physical health disorders and traits and that it can be used to predict phenotypic variance across samples.