Genetic association study of childhood aggression across raters, instruments, and age.
- Authors
- Ip, Hill F; van der Laan, Camiel M; Krapohl, Eva M L; Brikell, Isabell; SΓ‘nchez-Mora, Cristina; Nolte, Ilja M; St Pourcain, Beate; Bolhuis, Koen; Palviainen, Teemu; Zafarmand, Hadi; Colodro-Conde, LucΓa; Gordon, Scott; Zayats, Tetyana; Aliev, Fazil; Jiang, Chang; Wang, Carol A; Saunders, Gretchen; Karhunen, Ville; Hammerschlag, Anke R; Adkins, Daniel E; Border, Richard; Peterson, Roseann E; Prinz, Joseph A; Thiering, Elisabeth; SeppΓ€lΓ€, Ilkka; Vilor-Tejedor, NatΓ lia; Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S; Day, Felix R; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Allegrini, Andrea G; Rimfeld, Kaili; Chen, Qi; Lu, Yi; Martin, Joanna; Soler Artigas, MarΓa; Rovira, Paula; Bosch, Rosa; EspaΓ±ol, Gemma; Ramos Quiroga, Josep Antoni; Neumann, Alexander; Ensink, Judith; Grasby, Katrina; Morosoli, JosΓ© J; Tong, Xiaoran; Marrington, Shelby; Middeldorp, Christel; Scott, James G; Vinkhuyzen, Anna; Shabalin, Andrey A; Corley, Robin; Evans, Luke M; Sugden, Karen; Alemany, Silvia; Sass, LΓ¦rke; Vinding, Rebecca; Ruth, Kate; Tyrrell, Jess; Davies, Gareth E; Ehli, Erik A; Hagenbeek, Fiona A; De Zeeuw, Eveline; Van Beijsterveldt, Toos C E M; Larsson, Henrik; Snieder, Harold; Verhulst, Frank C; Amin, Najaf; Whipp, Alyce M; Korhonen, Tellervo; Vuoksimaa, Eero; Rose, Richard J; Uitterlinden, AndrΓ© G; Heath, Andrew C; Madden, Pamela; Haavik, Jan; Harris, Jennifer R; Helgeland, Γyvind; Johansson, Stefan; Knudsen, Gun Peggy S; Njolstad, Pal Rasmus; Lu, Qing; Rodriguez, Alina; Henders, Anjali K; Mamun, Abdullah; Najman, Jackob M; Brown, Sandy; Hopfer, Christian; Krauter, Kenneth; Reynolds, Chandra; Smolen, Andrew; Stallings, Michael; Wadsworth, Sally; Wall, Tamara L; Silberg, Judy L; Miller, Allison; Keltikangas-JΓ€rvinen, Liisa; Hakulinen, Christian; Pulkki-RΓ₯back, Laura; Havdahl, Alexandra; Magnus, Per; Raitakari, Olli T; Perry, John R B; Llop, Sabrina; Lopez-Espinosa, Maria-Jose; BΓΈnnelykke, Klaus; Bisgaard, Hans; Sunyer, Jordi; LehtimΓ€ki, Terho; Arseneault, Louise; Standl, Marie; Heinrich, Joachim; Boden, Joseph; Pearson, John; Horwood, L John; Kennedy, Martin; Poulton, Richie; Eaves, Lindon J; Maes, Hermine H; Hewitt, John; Copeland, William E; Costello, Elizabeth J; Williams, Gail M; Wray, Naomi; JΓ€rvelin, Marjo-Riitta; McGue, Matt; Iacono, William; Caspi, Avshalom; Moffitt, Terrie E; Whitehouse, Andrew; Pennell, Craig E; Klump, Kelly L; Burt, S Alexandra; Dick, Danielle M; Reichborn-Kjennerud, Ted; Martin, Nicholas G; Medland, Sarah E; Vrijkotte, Tanja; Kaprio, Jaakko; Tiemeier, Henning; Davey Smith, George; Hartman, Catharina A; Oldehinkel, Albertine J; Casas, Miquel; RibasΓ©s, Marta; Lichtenstein, Paul; LundstrΓΆm, Sebastian; Plomin, Robert; Bartels, Meike; Nivard, Michel G; Boomsma, Dorret I
- Year
- 2021
- Journal
- Translational psychiatry
- PMID
- 34330890
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41398-021-01480-x
- PMCID
- PMC8324785
Childhood aggressive behavior (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple assessors were included. We analyzed phenotype assessments for a total of 328 935 observations from 87 485 children aged between 1.5 and 18 years, while accounting for sample overlap. We also meta-analyzed within subsets of the data, i.e., within rater, instrument and age. SNP-heritability for the overall meta-analysis (AGG) was 3.31% (SEβ=β0.0038). We found no genome-wide significant SNPs for AGG. The gene-based analysis returned three significant genes: ST3GAL3 (Pβ=β1.6E-06), PCDH7 (Pβ=β2.0E-06), and IPO13 (Pβ=β2.5E-06). All three genes have previously been associated with educational traits. Polygenic scores based on our GWAMA significantly predicted aggression in a holdout sample of children (variance explained = 0.44%) and in retrospectively assessed childhood aggression (variance explained = 0.20%). Genetic correlations (r) among rater-specific assessment of AGG ranged from rβ=β0.46 between self- and teacher-assessment to rβ=β0.81 between mother- and teacher-assessment. We obtained moderate-to-strong rs with selected phenotypes from multiple domains, but hardly with any of the classical biomarkers thought to be associated with AGG. Significant genetic correlations were observed with most psychiatric and psychological traits (range [Formula: see text]: 0.19-1.00), except for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Aggression had a negative genetic correlation (rβ=β~-0.5) with cognitive traits and age at first birth. Aggression was strongly genetically correlated with smoking phenotypes (range [Formula: see text]: 0.46-0.60). The genetic correlations between aggression and psychiatric disorders were weaker for teacher-reported AGG than for mother- and self-reported AGG. The current GWAMA of childhood aggression provides a powerful tool to interrogate the rater-specific genetic etiology of AGG.
Manhattan plot of overall meta-analysis for childhood aggression (AGGoverall).Red triangles represent SNPs that were included in the significant genes from the gene-based analysis. SNPs for ST3GAL3 and IPO13 are included in the same locus on chromosome 1.
Proportion of explained variance (vertical axis) in childhood aggression at age 7 by polygenic scores from the overall GWAMA for multiple P value thresholds (horizontal axis).Numbers above the bars represent unadjusted P values for two-sided test of significance.
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| 1000 Genomes (Phase 3 Release 5) local | cohort |
| 1000 Genomes Project | cohort |
| 7-year olds local | cohort |
| ADHD | phenotype |
| adolescents | cohort |
| adult antisocial behavior | phenotype |
| adventurousness | phenotype |
| age at first birth | phenotype |
| age at smoking initiation | phenotype |
| AGGASEBA local | phenotype |
| AGG_Father local | phenotype |
| AGGM7 local | phenotype |
| AGG_Mother local | phenotype |
| AGGMother local | phenotype |
| AGGoverall local | cohort |
| AGGoverall local | phenotype |
| aggression | phenotype |
| Aggression (AGG) local | phenotype |
| Aggression (childhood) local | phenotype |
| AGGS13 local | phenotype |
| AGGSDQ local | phenotype |
| AGG_Self local | phenotype |
| AGGSelf local | phenotype |
| AGGSR local | phenotype |
| AGG_Teacher local | phenotype |
| AGGTeacher local | phenotype |
| anthropometric traits | phenotype |
| antisocial personality disorder | phenotype |
| anxiety | phenotype |
| ASD | phenotype |
| ASEBA scale local | phenotype |
| ASEBA scales local | phenotype |
| attention problems | phenotype |
| Australia | cohort |
| behavioral phenotypes | phenotype |
| birth weight | phenotype |
| cannabis dependence | phenotype |
| CD | phenotype |
| CD symptom score local | phenotype |
| childhood AGG local | phenotype |
| Childhood AGG polygenic score local | phenotype |
| childhood aggression local | phenotype |
| Childhood Aggression local | phenotype |
| childhood cohorts local | cohort |
| childhood IQ | phenotype |
| childhood traits local | phenotype |
| children | cohort |
| Children (7-year olds) local | cohort |
| cognition | phenotype |
| cognitive phenotypes | phenotype |
| cognitive traits | phenotype |
| college or university degree local | phenotype |
| complex traits | phenotype |
| conduct disorder | phenotype |
| Criminal convictions local | phenotype |
| CTI local | drug |
| developmental phenotypes local | phenotype |
| discovery GWAS | cohort |
| educational attainment | phenotype |
| educational outcomes | phenotype |
| European ancestry | cohort |
| externalizing disorders | phenotype |
| external phenotypes local | phenotype |
| External phenotypes local | phenotype |
| father-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| Father-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| GWAS | cohort |
| Having more children local | phenotype |
| Having offspring earlier in life local | phenotype |
| HDL cholesterol | phenotype |
| heart rate | phenotype |
| heart rate variability | phenotype |
| hyperactivity | phenotype |
| intelligence | phenotype |
| IPO13 local | gene |
| LDL local | drug |
| lifetime cannabis use local | drug |
| lipids | drug |
| MAGMA | drug |
| Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy local | cohort |
| mood disorders | phenotype |
| Mother-rated AGG local | phenotype |
| Neff local | drug |
| Netherlands Twin Register | cohort |
| neuroscientific phenotypes local | phenotype |
| New Zealand | cohort |
| oppositional defiant disorder | phenotype |
| parents | cohort |
| PCDH7 local | gene |
| personality traits | phenotype |
| PhenoScanner local | cohort |
| phenotype | phenotype |
| phenotypic correlation local | phenotype |
| polygenic risk score | cohort |
| psychiatric disorders | phenotype |
| psychiatric traits | phenotype |
| psychopathological phenotypes local | phenotype |
| QIMR | cohort |
| Queensland Institute for Medical Research local | cohort |
| reproductive traits | phenotype |
| Resting heart rate local | phenotype |
| rs11215217 | variant |
| rs113599846 local | variant |
| rs13138213 local | variant |
| rs2485997 local | variant |
| rs2570485 local | variant |
| rs2764450 | variant |
| rs3791116 local | variant |
| rs4714329 local | variant |
| sample overlap local | drug |
| sample size local | drug |
| schizophrenia | phenotype |
| SDQ local | phenotype |
| Self-rated AGG local | phenotype |
| self-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| Self-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| self-reported health | phenotype |
| smoking behavior | phenotype |
| smoking initiation | phenotype |
| smoking quantity | phenotype |
| SNP | cohort |
| Social dominance | phenotype |
| ST3GAL3 | gene |
| study cohort | cohort |
| subjective well-being | phenotype |
| substance use | phenotype |
| Teacher-rated AGG local | phenotype |
| teacher-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| Teacher-reported AGG local | phenotype |
| teachers | cohort |
| testosterone | drug |
| Testosterone levels local | phenotype |
| TNRC18 local | gene |
| trait | phenotype |
| UKB | cohort |
| UK Biobank | cohort |
| USA | cohort |
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