Since 2007, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of associations between common SNPs and height, mainly using studies with participants of European ancestry. The largest GWAS published so far for adult height focused on common variation and reported up to 3,290 independent associations in 712 loci using a sample size of up to 700,000 individuals3. Adult height, which is highly heritable and easily measured, has provided a larger number of common genetic associations than any other human phenotype. In addition, a large collection of genes has been implicated in disorders of skeletal growth, and these are enriched in loci mapped by GWASs of height in the normal range. These features make height an attractive model trait for assessing the role of common genetic variation in defining the genetic and biological architecture of polygenic human phenotypes.
