Douglas M Ruderfer

Oct 20, 2024 | nature.com | Kyle Sullivan |Matthew Lane |Mirko Pavicic |Xuejun Qin |Niamh Mullins |Anna R. Docherty | +6 more

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify genetic variants underlying complex traits but are limited by stringent genome-wide significance thresholds. We present GRIN (Gene set Refinement through Interacting Networks), which increases confidence in the expanded gene set by retaining genes strongly connected by biological networks when GWAS thresholds are relaxed. GRIN was validated on both simulated interrelated gene sets as well as multiple GWAS traits.

Jul 19, 2024 | nature.com | Neil S. Zheng |Karla Gleichauf |Douglas M Ruderfer |Evan L. Brittain |Logan Schneider |Lide Han | +7 more

Poor sleep health is associated with increased all-cause mortality and incidence of many chronic conditions. Previous studies have relied on cross-sectional and self-reported survey data or polysomnograms, which have limitations with respect to data granularity, sample size and longitudinal information. Here, using objectively measured, longitudinal sleep data from commercial wearable devices linked to electronic health record data from the All of Us Research Program, we show that sleep patterns, including sleep stages, duration and regularity, are associated with chronic disease incidence. Of the 6,785 participants included in this study, 71% were female, 84% self-identified as white and 71% had a college degree; the median age was 50.2 years (interquartile range = 35.7, 61.5) and the median sleep monitoring period was 4.5 years (2.5, 6.5). We found that rapid eye movement sleep and deep sleep were inversely associated with the odds of incident atrial fibrillation and that increased sleep irregularity was associated with increased odds of incident obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Moreover, J-shaped associations were observed between average daily sleep duration and hypertension, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. These findings show that sleep stages, duration and regularity are all important factors associated with chronic disease development and may inform evidence-based recommendations on healthy sleeping habits. In a cohort of 6,785 participants from the All of Us Research Program whose sleep was monitored by a Fitbit over a median of 4.5 years, sleep duration, stages and irregularity were associated with the incidence of obesity and a number of cardiovascular and psychological disorders.

Mar 28, 2024 | healio.com | Michael Monostra |Richard Smith |Evan L. Brittain |Douglas M Ruderfer

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published. Click Here to Manage Email Alerts We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact [email protected]. Key takeaways: Increased polygenic risk score and walking less were both associated with higher risk for developing obesity. Adults at high genetic risk may reduce their obesity risk by walking more steps per day.