Four novel Loci (19q13, 6q24, 12q24, and 5q14) influence the microcirculation in vivo.

ABSTRACT: There is increasing evidence that the microcirculation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Changes in retinal vascular caliber reflect early microvascular disease and predict incident cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants associated with retinal vascular caliber. We analyzed data from four population-based discovery cohorts with 15,358 unrelated Caucasian individuals, who are members of the Cohort for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, and replicated findings in four independent Caucasian cohorts (n  =  6,652). All participants had retinal photography and retinal arteriolar and venular caliber measured from computer software. In the discovery cohorts, 179 single

SUBMITTER: Ikram MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2965750 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature