Multiancestry and Multitrait GWAS Meta‐Analysis on Schizophrenia With a Sample of 322,321 Unveils Genetic Links to Chronic Lung Diseases

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder, yet its genetic links with chronic pulmonary diseases remain poorly defined. Such links may reflect shared biological pathways and could create opportunities for cross-disorder risk prediction and therapeutic repurposing. Here we applied a multiancestry, multitrait GWAS framework to SCZ and chronic pulmonary disease datasets. The analysis included 322,321 participants of European and East Asian ancestry from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, FinnGen, and 23andMe. We identified 16 previously unreported genetic variants associated with schizophrenia across ancestries. Transcriptome-wide association analysis and machine learning prioritization highlighted candidate genes, including WBP1L and CNNM2, that may contribute to schizophrenia biology. Gene-expression-based drug repurposing further nominated potential therapeutic opportunities shared across psychiatric and pulmonary traits. These findings indicate that schizophrenia and chronic pulmonary diseases share part of their inherited architecture, supporting integrated genetic models for comorbidity, risk stratification, and therapeutic discovery.