Genome-wide Association Study of Traumatic Brain Injury in U.S. Military Veterans Enrolled in the VA Million Veteran Program

Large-scale genetic studies of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are lacking; thus, our understanding of the influence of genetic factors on TBI risk and recovery is incomplete. This study aimed to conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of TBI in VA Million Veteran Program enrollees. Participants included a multi-ancestry cohort (European, African, and Hispanic ancestries; N=304,485; 111,494 TBI cases, 192,991 controls). TBI was assessed using MVP survey data and ICD codes from the Veterans Health Administration’s electronic health record. GWAS was performed using logistic regression in PLINK, and meta-analyzed in METAL. FUMA was used for post-GWAS analysis. Genomic structural equation modeling (gSEM) was conducted to investigate underlying genetic associations with TBI, and bivariate MiXeR was used to estimate phenotype specific and shared polygenicity. SNP-based heritability was 0.060 (SE=0.004, p =7.83×10 −66 ). GWAS analysis identified 15 genome-wide significant (GWS) loci at p <5×10 −8 . Gene-based analyses revealed 14 gene-wide significant genes, including NCAM1, APOE, FTO , and FOXP2 . Gene tissue expression analysis identified the brain as significantly enriched, particularly in the frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and nucleus accumbens. Genetic correlations with TBI were significant for risk-taking behaviors and psychiatric disorders, but generally not significant for the neurocognitive variables investigated. gSEM analysis revealed stronger associations with risk-taking traits than with psychiatric traits. Finally, the genetic architecture of TBI was similar to polygenic psychiatric disorders. Neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease showed much less polygenicity, however, the proportion of shared variance with TBI was high. This first well-powered GWAS of TBI identified 15 loci including genes relevant to TBI biology, and showed that TBI is a heritable trait with comparable genetic architecture and high genetic correlation with psychiatric traits. Our findings set the stage for future TBI GWASs that focus on injury severity and diversity and chronicity of symptom sequelae.