In this study, the power gained by sampling from the extremes of a large biobank whilst retaining the power of a quantitative trait analysis, coupled with strategies to improve coverage of the genome and extensive follow-up, enabled a near-doubling of the number of signals of association with lung function identified to date. We further explored 95 variants, representing 43 novel signals and 52 previously reported signals, and showed that collectively these variants are strongly associated with COPD susceptibility.
