High burden of birthweight-lowering genetic variants in Africans and Asians.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Birthweight is an important predictor of infant morbidity and mortality, and is associated with cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes in childhood and adulthood. Birthweight and fetal growth show regional and population variations even under similar maternal conditions, and a large proportion of these differences are not explained by environmental factors. Whether and to what extent population genetic variations at key birthweight-associated loci account for the residual birthweight disparities not explained by environmental determinants is unknown. We hypothesized that the cumulative burden of genetic variants with a birthweight-lowering effect (GRB) is different among ancestrally diverse populations.

Methods

Genotype data were extracted from phase 3 of

SUBMITTER: Tekola-Ayele F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5967042 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature