Background and Purpose
Visit-to-visit variability in BP is associated with ischemic stroke. We sought to determine whether such variability has a genetic aetiology and whether genetic variants associated with BP variability are also associated with ischemic stroke.
Methods
A GWAS for loci influencing BP variability was undertaken in 3,802 individuals from the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcome Trial (ASCOT) study where long-term visit-to-visit and within visit BP measures were available. Since BP variability is strongly associated with ischemic stroke, we genotyped the sentinel SNP in an independent ischemic stroke population comprising of 8,624 cases and 12,722 controls and in 3,900 additional (Scandinavian) participants from the ASCOT study in order to replicate our findings.
Results
The ASCOT discovery GWAS identified a cluster of 17 correlated SNPs within the NLGN1 gene (3q26.31) associated with BP variability. The strongest association was with rs976683 (p=1.4×10−8). Conditional analysis on rs976683 provided no evidence of additional independent associations at the locus. Analysis of rs976683 in ischemic stroke patients found no association for overall stroke (OR 1.02; 95% CI 0.97-1.07; p=0.52) or its sub-types: CE (OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.97-1.16; p=0.17), LVD (OR 0.98; 95% 0.89-1.07; p=0.60) and SVD (OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.97-1.17; p=0.19). No evidence for association was found between rs976683 and BP variability in the additional (Scandinavian) ASCOT participants (p=0.18).
Conclusions
We identified a cluster of SNPs at the NLGN1 locus showing significant association with BP variability. Follow up analyses did not support an association with risk of ischemic stroke and its subtypes.