@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 {1271, title = {CUBN is a gene locus for albuminuria.}, journal = {J Am Soc Nephrol}, volume = {22}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Mar}, pages = {555-70}, abstract = {

Identification of genetic risk factors for albuminuria may alter strategies for early prevention of CKD progression, particularly among patients with diabetes. Little is known about the influence of common genetic variants on albuminuria in both general and diabetic populations. We performed a meta-analysis of data from 63,153 individuals of European ancestry with genotype information from genome-wide association studies (CKDGen Consortium) and from a large candidate gene study (CARe Consortium) to identify susceptibility loci for the quantitative trait urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and the clinical diagnosis microalbuminuria. We identified an association between a missense variant (I2984V) in the CUBN gene, which encodes cubilin, and both UACR (P = 1.1 {\texttimes} 10(-11)) and microalbuminuria (P = 0.001). We observed similar associations among 6981 African Americans in the CARe Consortium. The associations between this variant and both UACR and microalbuminuria were significant in individuals of European ancestry regardless of diabetes status. Finally, this variant associated with a 41\% increased risk for the development of persistent microalbuminuria during 20 years of follow-up among 1304 participants with type 1 diabetes in the prospective DCCT/EDIC Study. In summary, we identified a missense CUBN variant that associates with levels of albuminuria in both the general population and in individuals with diabetes.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Albuminuria, European Continental Ancestry Group, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Mutation, Missense, Receptors, Cell Surface}, issn = {1533-3450}, doi = {10.1681/ASN.2010060598}, author = {B{\"o}ger, Carsten A and Chen, Ming-Huei and Tin, Adrienne and Olden, Matthias and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and de Boer, Ian H and Fuchsberger, Christian and O{\textquoteright}Seaghdha, Conall M and Pattaro, Cristian and Teumer, Alexander and Liu, Ching-Ti and Glazer, Nicole L and Li, Man and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Tanaka, Toshiko and Peralta, Carmen A and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Zhao, Jing Hua and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Akylbekova, Ermeg and Kramer, Holly and van der Harst, Pim and Smith, Albert V and Lohman, Kurt and de Andrade, Mariza and Hayward, Caroline and Kollerits, Barbara and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Aspelund, Thor and Ingelsson, Erik and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Launer, Lenore J and Harris, Tamara B and Shuldiner, Alan R and Mitchell, Braxton D and Arking, Dan E and Franceschini, Nora and Boerwinkle, Eric and Egan, Josephine and Hernandez, Dena and Reilly, Muredach and Townsend, Raymond R and Lumley, Thomas and Siscovick, David S and Psaty, Bruce M and Kestenbaum, Bryan and Haritunians, Talin and Bergmann, Sven and Vollenweider, Peter and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Mooser, Vincent and Waterworth, Dawn and Johnson, Andrew D and Florez, Jose C and Meigs, James B and Lu, Xiaoning and Turner, Stephen T and Atkinson, Elizabeth J and Leak, Tennille S and Aasar{\o}d, Knut and Skorpen, Frank and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Illig, Thomas and Baumert, Jens and Koenig, Wolfgang and Kr{\"a}mer, Bernhard K and Devuyst, Olivier and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Minelli, Cosetta and Bakker, Stephan J L and Kedenko, Lyudmyla and Paulweber, Bernhard and Coassin, Stefan and Endlich, Karlhans and Kroemer, Heyo K and Biffar, Reiner and Stracke, Sylvia and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Stumvoll, Michael and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Campbell, Harry and Vitart, Veronique and Hastie, Nicholas D and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Kardia, Sharon L R and Liu, Yongmei and Polasek, Ozren and Curhan, Gary and Kronenberg, Florian and Prokopenko, Inga and Rudan, Igor and Arnl{\"o}v, Johan and Hallan, Stein and Navis, Gerjan and Parsa, Afshin and Ferrucci, Luigi and Coresh, Josef and Shlipak, Michael G and Bull, Shelley B and Paterson, Nicholas J and Wichmann, H-Erich and Wareham, Nicholas J and Loos, Ruth J F and Rotter, Jerome I and Pramstaller, Peter P and Cupples, L Adrienne and Beckmann, Jacques S and Yang, Qiong and Heid, Iris M and Rettig, Rainer and Dreisbach, Albert W and Bochud, Murielle and Fox, Caroline S and Kao, W H L} } @article {1382, title = {Carotid intima-media thickness progression to predict cardiovascular events in the general population (the PROG-IMT collaborative project): a meta-analysis of individual participant data.}, journal = {Lancet}, volume = {379}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jun 02}, pages = {2053-62}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is related to the risk of cardiovascular events in the general population. An association between changes in cIMT and cardiovascular risk is frequently assumed but has rarely been reported. Our aim was to test this association.

METHODS: We identified general population studies that assessed cIMT at least twice and followed up participants for myocardial infarction, stroke, or death. The study teams collaborated in an individual participant data meta-analysis. Excluding individuals with previous myocardial infarction or stroke, we assessed the association between cIMT progression and the risk of cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke, vascular death, or a combination of these) for each study with Cox regression. The log hazard ratios (HRs) per SD difference were pooled by random effects meta-analysis.

FINDINGS: Of 21 eligible studies, 16 with 36,984 participants were included. During a mean follow-up of 7{\textperiodcentered}0 years, 1519 myocardial infarctions, 1339 strokes, and 2028 combined endpoints (myocardial infarction, stroke, vascular death) occurred. Yearly cIMT progression was derived from two ultrasound visits 2-7 years (median 4 years) apart. For mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness progression, the overall HR of the combined endpoint was 0{\textperiodcentered}97 (95\% CI 0{\textperiodcentered}94-1{\textperiodcentered}00) when adjusted for age, sex, and mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness, and 0{\textperiodcentered}98 (0{\textperiodcentered}95-1{\textperiodcentered}01) when also adjusted for vascular risk factors. Although we detected no associations with cIMT progression in sensitivity analyses, the mean cIMT of the two ultrasound scans was positively and robustly associated with cardiovascular risk (HR for the combined endpoint 1{\textperiodcentered}16, 95\% CI 1{\textperiodcentered}10-1{\textperiodcentered}22, adjusted for age, sex, mean common carotid artery intima-media thickness progression, and vascular risk factors). In three studies including 3439 participants who had four ultrasound scans, cIMT progression did not correlate between occassions (reproducibility correlations between r=-0{\textperiodcentered}06 and r=-0{\textperiodcentered}02).

INTERPRETATION: The association between cIMT progression assessed from two ultrasound scans and cardiovascular risk in the general population remains unproven. No conclusion can be derived for the use of cIMT progression as a surrogate in clinical trials.

FUNDING: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

}, keywords = {Cardiovascular Diseases, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness, Disease Progression, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Myocardial Infarction, Prognosis, Risk Assessment, Stroke}, issn = {1474-547X}, doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60441-3}, author = {Lorenz, Matthias W and Polak, Joseph F and Kavousi, Maryam and Mathiesen, Ellisiv B and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Tuomainen, Tomi-Pekka and Sander, Dirk and Plichart, Matthieu and Catapano, Alberico L and Robertson, Christine M and Kiechl, Stefan and Rundek, Tatjana and Desvarieux, Mo{\"\i}se and Lind, Lars and Schmid, Caroline and DasMahapatra, Pronabesh and Gao, Lu and Ziegelbauer, Kathrin and Bots, Michiel L and Thompson, Simon G} } @article {6288, title = {Common variants in Mendelian kidney disease genes and their association with renal function.}, journal = {J Am Soc Nephrol}, volume = {24}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Dec}, pages = {2105-17}, abstract = {

Many common genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies for complex traits map to genes previously linked to rare inherited Mendelian disorders. A systematic analysis of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes responsible for Mendelian diseases with kidney phenotypes has not been performed. We thus developed a comprehensive database of genes for Mendelian kidney conditions and evaluated the association between common genetic variants within these genes and kidney function in the general population. Using the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database, we identified 731 unique disease entries related to specific renal search terms and confirmed a kidney phenotype in 218 of these entries, corresponding to mutations in 258 genes. We interrogated common SNPs (minor allele frequency >5\%) within these genes for association with the estimated GFR in 74,354 European-ancestry participants from the CKDGen Consortium. However, the top four candidate SNPs (rs6433115 at LRP2, rs1050700 at TSC1, rs249942 at PALB2, and rs9827843 at ROBO2) did not achieve significance in a stage 2 meta-analysis performed in 56,246 additional independent individuals, indicating that these common SNPs are not associated with estimated GFR. The effect of less common or rare variants in these genes on kidney function in the general population and disease-specific cohorts requires further research.

}, keywords = {Databases, Genetic, European Continental Ancestry Group, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Kidney, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Renal Insufficiency, Chronic}, issn = {1533-3450}, doi = {10.1681/ASN.2012100983}, author = {Parsa, Afshin and Fuchsberger, Christian and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna and O{\textquoteright}Seaghdha, Conall M and Pattaro, Cristian and de Andrade, Mariza and Chasman, Daniel I and Teumer, Alexander and Endlich, Karlhans and Olden, Matthias and Chen, Ming-Huei and Tin, Adrienne and Kim, Young J and Taliun, Daniel and Li, Man and Feitosa, Mary and Gorski, Mathias and Yang, Qiong and Hundertmark, Claudia and Foster, Meredith C and Glazer, Nicole and Isaacs, Aaron and Rao, Madhumathi and Smith, Albert V and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Struchalin, Maksim and Tanaka, Toshiko and Li, Guo and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Atkinson, Elizabeth J and Lohman, Kurt and Cornelis, Marilyn C and Johansson, Asa and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Dehghan, Abbas and Couraki, Vincent and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Sorice, Rossella and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Deshmukh, Harshal and Ulivi, Sheila and Chu, Audrey Y and Murgia, Federico and Trompet, Stella and Imboden, Medea and Kollerits, Barbara and Pistis, Giorgio and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Aspelund, Thor and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Mitchell, Braxton D and Boerwinkle, Eric and Schmidt, Helena and Hofer, Edith and Hu, Frank and Demirkan, Ayse and Oostra, Ben A and Turner, Stephen T and Ding, Jingzhong and Andrews, Jeanette S and Freedman, Barry I and Giulianini, Franco and Koenig, Wolfgang and Illig, Thomas and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Wichmann, H-Erich and Zgaga, Lina and Zemunik, Tatijana and Boban, Mladen and Minelli, Cosetta and Wheeler, Heather E and Igl, Wilmar and Zaboli, Ghazal and Wild, Sarah H and Wright, Alan F and Campbell, Harry and Ellinghaus, David and N{\"o}thlings, Ute and Jacobs, Gunnar and Biffar, Reiner and Ernst, Florian and Homuth, Georg and Kroemer, Heyo K and Nauck, Matthias and Stracke, Sylvia and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Kovacs, Peter and Stumvoll, Michael and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Polasek, Ozren and Hastie, Nick and Vitart, Veronique and Helmer, Catherine and Wang, Jie Jin and Stengel, B{\'e}n{\'e}dicte and Ruggiero, Daniela and Bergmann, Sven and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Viikari, Jorma and Nikopensius, Tiit and Province, Michael and Colhoun, Helen and Doney, Alex and Robino, Antonietta and Kr{\"a}mer, Bernhard K and Portas, Laura and Ford, Ian and Buckley, Brendan M and Adam, Martin and Thun, Gian-Andri and Paulweber, Bernhard and Haun, Margot and Sala, Cinzia and Mitchell, Paul and Ciullo, Marina and Vollenweider, Peter and Raitakari, Olli and Metspalu, Andres and Palmer, Colin and Gasparini, Paolo and Pirastu, Mario and Jukema, J Wouter and Probst-Hensch, Nicole M and Kronenberg, Florian and Toniolo, Daniela and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Shuldiner, Alan R and Coresh, Josef and Schmidt, Reinhold and Ferrucci, Luigi and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Borecki, Ingrid and Kardia, Sharon L R and Liu, Yongmei and Curhan, Gary C and Rudan, Igor and Gyllensten, Ulf and Wilson, James F and Franke, Andre and Pramstaller, Peter P and Rettig, Rainer and Prokopenko, Inga and Witteman, Jacqueline and Hayward, Caroline and Ridker, Paul M and Bochud, Murielle and Heid, Iris M and Siscovick, David S and Fox, Caroline S and Kao, W Linda and B{\"o}ger, Carsten A} } @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} }