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

Suzanne Vogelezang, Jonathan P. Bradfield, the Early Growth Genetics Consortium, Struan F.A. Grant, Janine F. Felix, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
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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
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jun 2022

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Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

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