Identification of Four Novel Loci in Asthma in European American and African American Populations

Rationale: Despite significant advances in knowledge of the genetic architecture of asthma, specific contributors to the variability in the burden between populations remain uncovered.Objectives: To identify additional genetic susceptibility factors of asthma in European American and African American populations.Methods: A phenotyping algorithm mining electronic medical records was developed and validated to recruit cases with asthma and control subjects from the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics network. Genome-wide association analyses were performed in pediatric and adult asthma cases and control subjects with European American and African American ancestry followed by metaanalysis. Nominally significant results were reanalyzed conditioning on allergy status.Measurements and Main Results: The validation of the algorithm yielded an average of 95.8% positive predictive values for both cases and control subjects. The algorithm accrued 21,644 subjects (65.83% European American and 34.17% African Amer...