Premium
P1‐593: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM YIELDS HIGH POTENTIAL FOR BRAIN DONATION
Author(s) -
Striley Catherine W.,
Milani Sadaf A.,
Cottler Linda B.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.605
Subject(s) - donation , openness to experience , ethnic group , dementia , medicine , population , gerontology , community health , disease , family medicine , psychology , demography , public health , environmental health , social psychology , pathology , political science , sociology , law
Background: A resource consisting of a genealogy of the U.S. record-linked to National Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA) patient data is being created. This genealogy, already including over 63 million individuals linked to over 810,000 VHA patients, is the largest such combined resource reported, and is still growing. An analysis of familial clustering of VHA patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) shows the potential of the resource for investigation of the genetic contribution to health-related phenotypes. Methods: The VHA has used an electronic medical record system at most VHA medical centers for inpatient and outpatient care since 1994. These records provide a rich source of phenotype data on the 11 million Veterans who use the system. International Classification of Disease (ICD) Revision 9 coding was used to identify patients with AD (331.0). The Genealogical Index of Familiality method was used to compare the average pairwise relatedness of VHA patients with AD with the expected relatedness of matched VHA patient controls. Relative risks for AD were estimated in firstto third-degree relatives of patients with AD using ageand sex-specific population rates for AD estimated from all linked VHA patients. Results:Evidence for significant excess relatedness and significantly elevated risks for AD in relatives of AD cases was observed. Multiple pedigrees with a significant excess of related VHA patients with AD were identified. Conclusions:This genetic analysis of AD has been presented using a powerful new and growing national resource linking genealogy and medical data. AD was selected as the example phenotype given that it is a major health issue in the USA and the world, and may be a significant issue for the VHA in light of reported associations of AD with trauma. The analyses confirmed evidence for an inherited component to AD risk, identified a current resource of high-risk pedigrees that could be used for predisposition gene/ variant identification, and confirmed the power and utility of this VHA resource for genetic studies of complex human disease.