Genetics of early-life head circumference and genetic correlations with neurological, psychiatric and cognitive outcomes

the Early Growth Genetics Consortium

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3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Head circumference is associated with intelligence and tracks from childhood into adulthood. Methods: We performed a genome-wide association study meta-analysis and follow-up of head circumference in a total of 29,192 participants between 6 and 30 months of age. Results: Seven loci reached genome-wide significance in the combined discovery and replication analysis of which three loci near ARFGEF2, MYCL1, and TOP1, were novel. We observed positive genetic correlations for early-life head circumference with adult intracranial volume, years of schooling, childhood and adult intelligence, but not with adult psychiatric, neurological, or personality-related phenotypes. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the biological processes underlying early-life head circumference overlap largely with those of adult head circumference. The associations of early-life head circumference with cognitive outcomes across the life course are partly explained by genetics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number124
JournalBMC Medical Genomics
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Keywords

  • Genetic correlations
  • Genome-wide association study
  • Head circumference
  • Infancy

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