A Genome-Wide Association Study in Hispanics/Latinos Identifies Novel Signals for Lung Function. The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Rationale: Lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are heritable traits. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous pulmonary function and COPD loci, primarily in cohorts of European ancestry.Objectives: Perform a GWAS of COPD phenotypes in Hispanic/Latino populations to identify loci not previously detected in European populations.Methods: GWAS of lung function and COPD in Hispanic/Latino participants from a population-based cohort. We performed replication studies of novel loci in independent studies.Measurements and Main Results: Among 11,822 Hispanic/Latino participants, we identified eight novel signals; three replicated in independent populations of European Ancestry. A novel locus for FEV1 in ZSWIM7 (rs4791658; P = 4.99 × 10−9) replicated. A rare variant (minor allele frequency = 0.002) in HAL (rs145174011) was associated with FEV1/FVC (P = 9.59 × 10−9) in a region previously identified for COPD-related phenotypes; it remained significant in conditional a...