@article {1244, title = {Common variants in 22 loci are associated with QRS duration and cardiac ventricular conduction.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {42}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Dec}, pages = {1068-76}, abstract = {

The QRS interval, from the beginning of the Q wave to the end of the S wave on an electrocardiogram, reflects ventricular depolarization and conduction time and is a risk factor for mortality, sudden death and heart failure. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis in 40,407 individuals of European descent from 14 studies, with further genotyping in 7,170 additional Europeans, and we identified 22 loci associated with QRS duration (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). These loci map in or near genes in pathways with established roles in ventricular conduction such as sodium channels, transcription factors and calcium-handling proteins, but also point to previously unidentified biologic processes, such as kinase inhibitors and genes related to tumorigenesis. We demonstrate that SCN10A, a candidate gene at the most significantly associated locus in this study, is expressed in the mouse ventricular conduction system, and treatment with a selective SCN10A blocker prolongs QRS duration. These findings extend our current knowledge of ventricular depolarization and conduction.

}, keywords = {Animals, Animals, Newborn, Chromosomes, Human, Computational Biology, Electrocardiography, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Heart Conduction System, Humans, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Models, Animal, Myocytes, Cardiac, NAV1.8 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sodium Channels}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.716}, author = {Sotoodehnia, Nona and Isaacs, Aaron and de Bakker, Paul I W and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Newton-Cheh, Christopher and Nolte, Ilja M and van der Harst, Pim and M{\"u}ller, Martina and Eijgelsheim, Mark and Alonso, Alvaro and Hicks, Andrew A and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Hayward, Caroline and Smith, Albert Vernon and Polasek, Ozren and Giovannone, Steven and Fu, Jingyuan and Magnani, Jared W and Marciante, Kristin D and Pfeufer, Arne and Gharib, Sina A and Teumer, Alexander and Li, Man and Bis, Joshua C and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Aspelund, Thor and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and Johnson, Toby and Rice, Kenneth and Sie, Mark P S and Wang, Ying A and Klopp, Norman and Fuchsberger, Christian and Wild, Sarah H and Mateo Leach, Irene and Estrada, Karol and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Wright, Alan F and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Qu, Jiaxiang and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Sinner, Moritz F and Kors, Jan A and Petersmann, Astrid and Harris, Tamara B and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Munroe, Patricia B and Psaty, Bruce M and Oostra, Ben A and Cupples, L Adrienne and Perz, Siegfried and de Boer, Rudolf A and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Spector, Timothy D and Liu, Fang-Yu and Boerwinkle, Eric and Dominiczak, Anna F and Rotter, Jerome I and van Herpen, G{\'e} and Levy, Daniel and Wichmann, H-Erich and van Gilst, Wiek H and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Kroemer, Heyo K and Kao, W H Linda and Heckbert, Susan R and Meitinger, Thomas and Hofman, Albert and Campbell, Harry and Folsom, Aaron R and van Veldhuisen, Dirk J and Schwienbacher, Christine and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Volpato, Claudia Beu and Caulfield, Mark J and Connell, John M and Launer, Lenore and Lu, Xiaowen and Franke, Lude and Fehrmann, Rudolf S N and te Meerman, Gerard and Groen, Harry J M and Weersma, Rinse K and van den Berg, Leonard H and Wijmenga, Cisca and Ophoff, Roel A and Navis, Gerjan and Rudan, Igor and Snieder, Harold and Wilson, James F and Pramstaller, Peter P and Siscovick, David S and Wang, Thomas J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Felix, Stephan B and Fishman, Glenn I and Jamshidi, Yalda and Stricker, Bruno H Ch and Samani, Nilesh J and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Arking, Dan E} } @article {7801, title = {Common and Rare Coding Genetic Variation Underlying the Electrocardiographic PR Interval.}, journal = {Circ Genom Precis Med}, volume = {11}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 May}, pages = {e002037}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Electrical conduction from the cardiac sinoatrial node to the ventricles is critical for normal heart function. Genome-wide association studies have identified more than a dozen common genetic loci that are associated with PR interval. However, it is unclear whether rare and low-frequency variants also contribute to PR interval heritability.

METHODS: We performed large-scale meta-analyses of the PR interval that included 83 367 participants of European ancestry and 9436 of African ancestry. We examined both common and rare variants associated with the PR interval.

RESULTS: We identified 31 genetic loci that were significantly associated with PR interval after Bonferroni correction (<1.2{\texttimes}10), including 11 novel loci that have not been reported previously. Many of these loci are involved in heart morphogenesis. In gene-based analysis, we found that multiple rare variants at (=5.9{\texttimes}10) and (=1.1{\texttimes}10) were associated with PR interval. locus also was implicated in the common variant analysis, whereas was a novel locus.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified common variants at 11 novel loci and rare variants within 2 gene regions that were significantly associated with PR interval. Our findings provide novel insights to the current understanding of atrioventricular conduction, which is critical for cardiac activity and an important determinant of health.

}, issn = {2574-8300}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGEN.117.002037}, author = {Lin, Honghuang and van Setten, Jessica and Smith, Albert V and Bihlmeyer, Nathan A and Warren, Helen R and Brody, Jennifer A and Radmanesh, Farid and Hall, Leanne and Grarup, Niels and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Boutin, Thibaud and Verweij, Niek and Lin, Henry J and Li-Gao, Ruifang and van den Berg, Marten E and Marten, Jonathan and Weiss, Stefan and Prins, Bram P and Haessler, Jeffrey and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Mei, Hao and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Li, Man and Alonso, Alvaro and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Connell, John M and Huang, Paul L and Weng, Lu-Chen and Jameson, Heather S and Hucker, William and Hanley, Alan and Tucker, Nathan R and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Bis, Joshua C and Rice, Kenneth M and Sitlani, Colleen M and Kors, Jan A and Xie, Zhijun and Wen, Chengping and Magnani, Jared W and Nelson, Christopher P and Kanters, J{\o}rgen K and Sinner, Moritz F and Strauch, Konstantin and Peters, Annette and Waldenberger, Melanie and Meitinger, Thomas and Bork-Jensen, Jette and Pedersen, Oluf and Linneberg, Allan and Rudan, Igor and de Boer, Rudolf A and van der Meer, Peter and Yao, Jie and Guo, Xiuqing and Taylor, Kent D and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Rotter, Jerome I and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Trompet, Stella and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andre and Eijgelsheim, Mark and Padmanabhan, Sandosh and Smith, Blair H and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Felix, Stephan B and Homuth, Georg and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Mangino, Massimo and Spector, Timothy D and Bots, Michiel L and Perez, Marco and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Raitakari, Olli T and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Arking, Dan E and Munroe, Patricia B and Psaty, Bruce M and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Benjamin, Emelia J and Rosand, Jonathan and Samani, Nilesh J and Hansen, Torben and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Polasek, Ozren and van der Harst, Pim and Heckbert, Susan R and Jukema, J Wouter and Stricker, Bruno H and Hayward, Caroline and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Jamshidi, Yalda and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Kooperberg, Charles and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Wilson, James G and Ellinor, Patrick T and Lubitz, Steven A and Isaacs, Aaron} } @article {7972, title = {Common Genetic Variation in Relation to Brachial Vascular Dimensions and Flow-Mediated Vasodilation.}, journal = {Circ Genom Precis Med}, volume = {12}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Feb}, pages = {e002409}, issn = {2574-8300}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGEN.118.002409}, author = {D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Hamburg, Naomi M and M{\"u}ller, Christian and Smith, Nicholas L and Gustafsson, Stefan and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Teumer, Alexander and Zeller, Tanja and Li, Xiaohui and Lind, Lars and Raitakari, Olli T and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Blankenberg, Stefan and McKnight, Barbara and Morris, Andrew P and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Wild, Philipp S and Nauck, Matthias and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and M{\"u}nzel, Thomas and Mitchell, Gary F and Psaty, Bruce M and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Larson, Martin G and Felix, Stephan B and Ingelsson, Erik and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Herrington, David and Benjamin, Emelia J and Schnabel, Renate B} } @article {9918, title = {Clinical and Imaging Markers of Cardiac Function and Brain Health: A Meta-Analysis of Community-Based Studies.}, journal = {Neurology}, volume = {104}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Apr 22}, pages = {e213421}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cardiac dysfunction and heart failure are linked to cognitive impairment, but the underlying brain pathology remains undetermined. We investigated associations between cardiac function (measured by echocardiography or cardiac MRI), clinical heart failure, and structural markers on brain MRI, including volumes of gray and white matter (WM), the hippocampus, and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs).

METHODS: We leverage data from 7 prospective, community-based cohorts across Europe and the United States, all part of the Cross-Cohort Collaboration. The included cohorts were the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, Austrian Stroke Prevention Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Framingham Heart Study, Rotterdam Study, and Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP-START and SHIP-TREND). Each cohort performed cross-sectional multivariable linear regression analyses, after which estimates were pooled through random-effects meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was assessed by the index (\%).

RESULTS: Among 10,889 participants (mean age: 66.8 years, range 52.0-76.0; 56.7\% women), markers of systolic dysfunction were consistently associated with smaller total brain volume (TBV) (e.g., adjusted standardized mean difference for moderate to severe dysfunction -0.19, 95\% CI -0.31 to -0.07, = 20\%). Impaired relaxation and restrictive diastolic dysfunction were also associated with smaller TBV (e.g., for impaired relaxation -0.08, 95\% CI -0.15 to -0.01, = 32\%) and hippocampal volume (-0.18, 95\% CI -0.33 to -0.03, = 0\%), with similar results for the E/A-ratio. Systolic and diastolic dysfunction was not consistently associated with volume of WMHs. Among 5 cohorts with available data, 302 (3.4\%) participants had clinical heart failure, which was associated with smaller brain volumes, particularly in the hippocampus (-0.13, 95\% CI -0.23 to -0.02, = 1\%).

DISCUSSION: In this large study among community-dwelling adults, subclinical cardiac dysfunction was associated with brain imaging markers of neurodegeneration. These findings encourage longitudinal investigations on the effect of maintaining cardiac function on brain health.

}, keywords = {Aged, Brain, Cohort Studies, Echocardiography, Female, Heart Failure, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, White Matter}, issn = {1526-632X}, doi = {10.1212/WNL.0000000000213421}, author = {Yaqub, Amber and Bis, Joshua C and Frenzel, Stefan and Koini, Marisa and Mbangdadji, Djass and Peloso, Gina M and Talluri, Rajesh and Alonso, Alvaro and Bahls, Martin and B{\"u}low, Robin and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Felix, Stephan and Fohner, Alison and Friedrich, Nele and Hofer, Edith and Kavousi, Maryam and Launer, Lenore J and Le, Tran and Longstreth, Will and Mosley, Thomas H and Vernooij, Meike W and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Wittfeld, Katharina and Beiser, Alexa S and Grabe, Hans J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Ikram, Mohammad Arfan and Psaty, Bruce M and Schmidt, Reinhold and Simino, Jeannette and Seshadri, Sudha and Wolters, Frank J} }