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Updated: Aug 9, 2025

Large-Scale Multi-Omics Genome-Wide Association Studies Mo-GWAS: Guidelines for Sample Preparation and Normalization
Published on: July 27, 2021
Genome-wide Association Study Meta-analysis of Blood Pressure Traits and Hypertension in Sub-Saharan African
Surina Singh1, Ananyo Choudhury2, Scott Hazelhurst3
1Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB), University of the Witwatersrand.
Abstract:
Most hypertension-related genome-wide association studies (GWAS) focus on non-African populations, despite hypertension (a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease) being highly prevalent in Africa. The AWI-Gen study GWAS meta-analysis for blood pressure-related traits (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, mean-arterial pressure and hypertension) from three sub-Saharan African geographic regions (N=10,775), identified two genome-wide significant signals (p<5E-08): systolic blood pressure near P2RY1 (rs77846204; intergenic variant, p=4.25E-08) and pulse pressure near Linc01256 (rs80141533; intergenic variant, p=4.25E-08). No genome-wide signals were detected for the AWI-Gen GWAS meta-analysis with previous African-ancestry GWASs (UK Biobank (African), Uganda Genome Resource). Suggestive signals (p<5E-06) were observed for all traits, with 29 displaying pleiotropic effects and several replicating known associations. Polygenic risk scores developed from studies on different ancestries had limited transferability, with multi-ancestry models providing better prediction. This study provides insights into the genetics and physiology of blood pressure variation in African populations.
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