Genetic Insights into Aging and Age-Related Diseases among Varied Pedigree Structures.

TL;DRAbstract

Older age is associated with decline in many physiological functions that eventually lead to increased susceptibility to diseases. The rate of aging varies among individuals and may be influenced by genes. This dissertation has three aims: 1) define a measure of aging using physiologic traits and determine its heritability among various pedigree structures, 2) investigate genetic associations with the age trait using genome-wide association study analyses, and 3) focus on decline in kidney function by examining its association with known kidney loci and clinical risk factors within the SardiNIA Study on Aging. Using data from five genetic cohorts (30,000+ individuals) with varying pedigree structure (SardiNIA Study on Aging – large pedigrees, Framingham Heart Study offspring – small pedigrees, Atherosclerotic Risk in Communities Study – unrelated, and two twins studies: Twingene and TwinsUK), two aging traits were developed. Both traits employ three physiologic health measures (kidney

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