Dataset Information

African ancestry is associated with asthma risk in African Americans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Asthma is a common complex condition with clear racial and ethnic differences in both prevalence and severity. Asthma consultation rates, mortality, and severe symptoms are greatly increased in African descent populations of developed countries. African ancestry has been associated with asthma, total serum IgE and lower pulmonary function in African-admixed populations. To replicate previous findings, here we aimed to examine whether African ancestry was associated with asthma susceptibility in African Americans. In addition, we examined for the first time whether African ancestry was associated with asthma exacerbations.

Methodology/principal findings

After filtering for self-reported ancestry and genotype data quality, samples from 1,117 self-reported African-American individuals from New York and Baltimore (394 cases, 481 controls), and Chicago (321 cases followed for asthma exacerbations) were analyzed. Genetic ancestry was estimated based on ancestry informative markers (AIMs) selected for being highly divergent among European and West African populations (95 AIMs for New York and Baltimore, and 66 independent AIMs for Chicago). Among case-control samples, the mean African ancestry was significantly higher in asthmatics than in non-asthmatics (82.0±14.0% vs. 77.8±18.1%, mean difference 4.2% [95% confidence interval (CI):2.0-6.4], p<0.0001). This association remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders (odds ratio: 4.55, 95% CI: 1.69-12.29, p?=?0.003). African ancestry failed to show an association with asthma exacerbations (p?=?0.965) using a model based on longitudinal data of the number of exacerbations followed over 1.5 years.

Conclusions/significance

These data replicate previous findings indicating that African ancestry constitutes a risk factor for asthma and suggest that elevated asthma rates in African Americans can be partially attributed to African genetic ancestry.

SUBMITTER: Flores C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3250386 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

African ancestry is associated with asthma risk in African Americans.

Flores Carlos C Ma Shwu-Fan SF Pino-Yanes María M Wade Michael S MS Pérez-Méndez Lina L Kittles Rick A RA Wang Deli D Papaiahgari Srinivas S Ford Jean G JG Kumar Rajesh R Garcia Joe G N JG

PloS one 20120103 1

<h4>Background</h4>Asthma is a common complex condition with clear racial and ethnic differences in both prevalence and severity. Asthma consultation rates, mortality, and severe symptoms are greatly increased in African descent populations of developed countries. African ancestry has been associated with asthma, total serum IgE and lower pulmonary function in African-admixed populations. To replicate previous findings, here we aimed to examine whether African ancestry was associated with asthma ...[more]

PMID: 22235241

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Childhood asthma is a syndrome composed of heterogeneous phenotypes; furthermore, intrinsic biologic variation among racial/ethnic populations suggests possible genetic ancestry variation in childhood asthma. The objective of the study is to identify clinically homogeneous asthma subphenotypes in a diverse sample of asthmatic children and to assess subphenotype-specific genetic ancestry in African-American asthmatic children. METHODS:A total of 1211 asthmatic children including 813 in the Childhood Asthma Management Program and 398 in the Childhood Asthma Research and Education program were studied. Unsupervised cluster analysis on clinical phenotypes was conducted to identify homogeneous subphenotypes. Subphenotype-specific genetic ancestry was estimated for 167 African-American asthmatic children. Genetic ancestry association with subphenotypes/clinical phenotypes were determined. RESULTS:Three distinct subphenotypes were identified: a moderate atopic dermatitis (AD) group with negative skin prick test (SPT) and preserved lung function; a high AD group with positive SPT and airway hyperresponsiveness; and a low AD group with positive SPT and lower lung function. African ancestry at asthma genome-wide association study (GWAS) SNPs differed between subphenotypes (64, 89, and 94% for the three subphenotypes, respectively) and was inversely correlated with AD; each additional 10% increase in African ancestry was associated with 1.5 fold higher in IgE and 6.3 higher odds of positive SPT (all p-values <?0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:By conducting phenotype-based cluster analysis and assessing subphenotype-specific genetic ancestry, we were able to identify homogeneous subphenotypes for childhood asthma that showed significant variation in genetic ancestry of African-American asthmatic children. This finding demonstrates the utility of these complementary approaches to understand and refine childhood asthma subphenotypes and enable more targeted therapy.

Dataset Information

African ancestry is associated with asthma risk in African Americans.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

African ancestry is associated with asthma risk in African Americans.

Similar Datasets

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