Abstract P391: Genetic Analysis of Blood Pressure Traits in African Populations

High blood pressure is a heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke and other chronic conditions. There is an increasing prevalence of high blood pressure in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to identify genetic variants underlying blood pressure traits in Sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a GWAS, meta-analyses and gene-set analyses of blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, pulse pressure), in African populations. We used the African Collaborative Center for Microbiome and Genomics Research data (ACCME, n=~15,000) for GWAS discovery and the Africa America Diabetes Mellitus study data (AADM, n=~5,200), for GWAS replication. Multiple SNPs were identified reaching genome-wide significance. The lead SNP from the elevated blood pressure group was on chromosome 16 (rs148403740, minor allelic frequency (MAF)=0.0176, p= 9.28x10 -9 , odds ratio(OR)= 2.58) nearest to the MGRN1 gene. The lead SNP from the hypertension stage 1 group was on chromosome 7 (rs4236415, MAF= 0.4912, p= 1.33x10 -8 , OR= 1.2). The index SNP within the pulse pressure group was on chromosome 10 (rs61836106, MAF= 0.1828, p= 7.4x10 -9 , OR= 5.7). The findings provide promising candidate SNPs for developing risk stratification models in African populations.