ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, vol.81, no.3, pp.383-394, 2017 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been successful at identifying associations with stroke and stroke subtypes, but have not yet identified any associations solely with small vessel stroke (SVS). SVS comprises one quarter of all ischemic stroke and is a major manifestation of cerebral small vessel disease, the primary cause of vascular cognitive impairment. Studies across neurological traits have shown that younger-onset cases have an increased genetic burden. We leveraged this increased genetic burden by performing an age-at-onset informed GWAS metaanalysis, including a large younger-onset SVS population, to identify novel associations with stroke.