Zonderman, Alan B.

Objective: To examine prospective associations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test positivity, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) symptom severity, and COVID-2019 hospitalization with incident clinical diabetes among aging women. Methods: A cohort study was conducted using data from 34,405 eligible Women’s Health Initiative participants who completed ≥1 COVID-2019 surveys (Survey 1: June–December 2020; Survey 2: June 2021–February 2022) and were followed up for an average of 1.86 (±0.49) years, yielding 399 incident diabetes cases. Results: SARS-CoV-2 test positivity was associated with diabetes risk in the age-adjusted Cox regression model (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.76, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10, 2.82), but not when fully adjusted (HR = 1.43, 95% CI: 0.88, 2.31). Diabetes risk was higher among those with 1–2 COVID-19 symptoms (HR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.77) and those with 3± COVID-2019 symptoms (HR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.22) compared with those without COVID-2019 symptoms in fully-adjusted models, irrespective of self-reported SARS-CoV-2 testing. COVID-2019 hospitalization was associated with 2–3 times the risk of clinical diabetes in age-adjusted (HR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.52, 5.72) and fully-adjusted (HR = 1.90, 95% CI: 0.97, 3.72) models. Conclusions: Age-adjusted self-reported SARS-CoV-2 test positivity was associated with a higher incidence of diabetes. Reporting of COVID-2019 symptoms and being hospitalized for COVID-2019 were each associated with higher incidence of diabetes in aging women, after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health characteristics.

Background and Purpose: Stroke is a complex disease with multiple genetic and environmental risk factors. Blacks endure a nearly 2-fold greater risk of stroke and are 2× to 3× more likely to die from stroke than European Americans. Methods: The COMPASS (Consortium of Minority Population Genome-Wide Association Studies of Stroke) has conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of stroke in >22 000 individuals of African ancestry (3734 cases, 18 317 controls) from 13 cohorts. Results: In meta-analyses, we identified one single nucleotide polymorphism (rs55931441) near the HNF1A gene that reached genome-wide significance ( P =4.62×10 −8 ) and an additional 29 variants with suggestive evidence of association ( P <1×10 −6 ), representing 24 unique loci. For validation, a look-up analysis for a 100 kb region flanking the COMPASS single nucleotide polymorphism was performed in SiGN (Stroke Genetics Network) Europeans, SiGN Hispanics, and METASTROKE (Europeans). Using a stringent Bonferroni correction P value of 2.08×10 −3 (0.05/24 unique loci), we were able to validate associations at the HNF1A locus in both SiGN ( P =8.18×10 −4 ) and METASTROKE ( P =1.72×10 −3 ) European populations. Overall, 16 of 24 loci showed evidence for validation across multiple populations. Previous studies have reported associations between variants in the HNF1A gene and lipids, C-reactive protein, and risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Suggestive associations with variants in the SFXN4 and TMEM108 genes represent potential novel ischemic stroke loci. Conclusions: These findings represent the most thorough investigation of genetic determinants of stroke in individuals of African descent, to date.

Background and Purpose— The majority of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of stroke have focused on European-ancestry populations; however, none has been conducted in African Americans, despite the disproportionately high burden of stroke in this population. The Consortium of Minority Population Genome-Wide Association Studies of Stroke (COMPASS) was established to identify stroke susceptibility loci in minority populations. Methods— Using METAL, we conducted meta-analyses of GWAS in 14 746 African Americans (1365 ischemic and 1592 total stroke cases) from COMPASS, and tested genetic variants with P <10 −6 for validation in METASTROKE, a consortium of ischemic stroke genetic studies in European-ancestry populations. We also evaluated stroke loci previously identified in European-ancestry populations. Results— The 15q21.3 locus linked with lipid levels and hypertension was associated with total stroke (rs4471613; P =3.9×10 −8 ) in African Americans. Nominal associations ( P <10 −6 ) for total or ischemic stroke were observed for 18 variants in or near genes implicated in cell cycle/mRNA presplicing ( PTPRG , CDC5L ), platelet function ( HPS4 ), blood–brain barrier permeability ( CLDN17 ), immune response ( ELTD1, WDFY4 , and IL1F10-IL1RN ), and histone modification ( HDAC9 ). Two of these loci achieved nominal significance in METASTROKE: 5q35.2 ( P =0.03), and 1p31.1 ( P =0.018). Four of 7 previously reported ischemic stroke loci ( PITX2, HDAC9, CDKN2A/CDKN2B , and ZFHX3 ) were nominally associated ( P <0.05) with stroke in COMPASS. Conclusions— We identified a novel genetic variant associated with total stroke in African Americans and found that ischemic stroke loci identified in European-ancestry populations may also be relevant for African Americans. Our findings support investigation of diverse populations to identify and characterize genetic risk factors, and the importance of shared genetic risk across populations.