title: Genetic influences on trajectories of systolic blood pressure across childhood and adolescence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blood pressure (BP) tends to increase across childhood and adolescence, but the genetic influences on rates of BP change are not known. Potentially important genetic influences could include genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies of adults as being associated with BP, height, and body mass index. Understanding the contribution of these genetic variants to changes in BP across childhood and adolescence could yield understanding into the life course development of cardiovascular risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pooling data from 2 cohorts (the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children [n=7013] and the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort [n=1459]), we examined the associations of allelic scores of 29 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for adult BP, 180 height SNPs, and 32 body mass index SNPs, with trajectories of systolic BP (SBP) from 6 to 17 years of age, using linear spline multilevel models. The allelic scores of BP and body mass index SNPs were associated with SBP at 6 years of age (per-allele effect sizes, 0.097 mm Hg [SE, 0.039 mm Hg] and 0.107 mm Hg [SE, 0.037 mm Hg]); associations with age-related changes in SBP between 6 and 17 years of age were of small magnitude and imprecisely estimated. The allelic score of height SNPs was only weakly associated with SBP changes. No sex or cohort differences in genetic effects were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Allelic scores of BP and body mass index SNPs demonstrated associations with SBP at 6 years of age with a similar magnitude but were not strongly associated with changes in SBP with age between 6 and 17 years. Further work is required to identify variants associated with changes with age in BP.
authors.affiliation: MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Laura D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Howe
authors.forename: Priyakumari G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Parmar
authors.forename: Lavinia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paternoster
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Warrington
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Briollais
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Newnham
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Timpson
authors.forename: George Davey
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ring
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tilling
authors.forename: Craig E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Pennell
authors.forename: Lawrie J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Beilin
authors.forename: Lyle J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Debbie A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lawlor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: adolescent; blood pressure; genetics; humans