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The authors found, after analyzing 10,960 individuals from 9 multiancestry biobanks across 6 countries, that genetic factors previously associated with BMI have limited impact on GLP-1 receptor agonist-induced weight loss.

The authors use data on the entire Finnish population to develop a machine learning model for predicting COVID-19 vaccination uptake. Important predictors are proxies of socio-economic status, and those at high risk for COVID-19 consequences are less likely to get vaccinated.

This study examines socio-demographic and genetic factors for adherence and persistence to five medication classes, identifying lower socio-economic and immigration status as major predictors of lower adherence, while genetic factors show minimal impact.

A large-scale meta-analysis across eight biobank datasets identifies common genetic variants associated with mosaic loss of the X chromosome in female participants.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Mignogna et al. analysed item nonresponse behaviour across 109 questionnaire items from 360,628 individuals in the UK Biobank using phenotypic and genetic data. This can inform our understanding of how item nonresponse might lead to bias in genetic studies more generally.

Here the authors present a framework for estimating disease risk using PGS accounting for country, age and sex. They find that PGSs have a significant sex-specific effect on common diseases, and their effect is typically larger in young individuals.

Here, the authors perform a genome-wide study and identify a genetic variant enriched in the Finnish population that is strongly associated with isolated cleft palate. This finding suggests a genetic basis for the high prevalence of cleft palate in Finland.

Erik Ingelsson and colleagues report a large-scale genome-wide meta-analysis for associations to the extremes of anthropometric traits, including body mass index, height, waist-to-hip ratio and clinical obesity. They identify four loci newly associated with height and seven loci newly associated with clinical obesity and find overlap in the genetic structure and distribution of variants identified for these extremes of the trait distributions and for the general population.

The authors present a comprehensive analysis of the associations between childlessness and individual diseases in Finland and Sweden.

Sex differences in fasting glucose and insulin have been identified, but the genetic loci underlying these differences have not. Here, the authors perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to detect sex-specific and sex-dimorphic loci associated with fasting glucose and insulin.

Understanding the causal impact that risk factors have on healthcare cost is critical to evaluate healthcare interventions. Here, authors show that waist circumference, body mass index, and blood pressure have robust causal impact on healthcare cost.

The European Health Data Space provides an opportunity to benefit patients and the public.

The burden of mosaic chromosomal alterations in blood-derived DNA, a type of clonal hematopoiesis, is associated with an increased risk for diverse types of infections, including sepsis and pneumonia.

Genetic analyses identify widespread sex-differential participation bias in population-based studies and show how this bias can lead to incorrect inferences. These findings highlight new challenges for association studies as sample sizes continue to grow.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of kidney cancer identifies 63 regions associated with disease susceptibility including one locus that was associated with increased risk in individuals with African ancestry.

A catalogue of predicted loss-of-function variants in 125,748 whole-exome and 15,708 whole-genome sequencing datasets from the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) reveals the spectrum of mutational constraints that affect these human protein-coding genes.

Genome-wide association studies of individuals from an isolated population (data from the Finnish biobank study FinnGen) and consequent meta-analyses facilitate the identification of previously unknown coding variant associations for both rare and common diseases.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

A new analysis combining data from large biobanks and the Global Burden of Disease study estimates that genetic risk factors significantly impact the number of healthy life years lost both at the individual and population level

Mathieson et al. carried out a genome-wide association study of reproductive success (number of children born) in humans, revealing the importance of diverse neuro-endocrine and behavioural factors.

Here the authors show that deep learning accurately predicts one-year mortality using nationwide Finnish data. Despite robust performance and potential as an aging marker, fairness analyses reveal prediction disparities, urging cautious integration into public health.

Circulating lipoprotein(a) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and shows variability between different ethnic groups. Here, Zekavat et al. perform whole-genome sequencing in individuals of European and African ancestries and find ancestry-specific genetic determinants for lipoprotein(a) levels.

People who experience optic neuritis, a cause of potentially serious sudden vision loss, have up to a 50% chance of ultimately being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Here, the authors find that genetic information combined with age and sex helps predict risk of future diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Paul Pharoah and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study of ovarian cancer. They identify new susceptibility loci for different epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes and use integrated analyses of genes and regulatory features at each locus to predict candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1.

A genome-wide association study suggests 41 previously unreported loci on top of the 23 known loci that influence the disease risk for lumbar disc herniations. Many of these loci harbour genes implicated in disc structure and inflammation, as well as genes related to the nervous system and nerve function.

Robust genome-wide association study (GWAS) methods that can utilise time-to-event information such as age-of-onset will help increase power in analyses for common health outcomes. Here, the authors propose a computationally efficient time-to-event model for GWAS.

In this article, Niemi, Daly and Ganna discuss how large-scale genomics studies are providing a rapidly maturing understanding of the influence of host genetics on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) susceptibility and severity. They also describe the implications for identifying causal mechanisms of pathology and potential therapeutic opportunities.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

The largest meta-analysis of GWASs of hepcidin and sTfR identified 43 genomic loci, of which 15 new. Mendelian randomisation revealed associations of systemic iron status and iron-related loci with selected health outcomes across multiple domains.

In this largest whole-exome sequencing study of epilepsies to date, the Epi25 Collaborative identified extremely rare variants that confer risk for diverse epilepsy subtypes, highlighting roles in synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability.

Rare genetic mutations that disrupt the functionality of important genes increase the risk of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorder. This study found that, in the general population not diagnosed with such disorders, these same mutations affect the average educational level. Carriers of these mutations have on average half a semester less of education than noncarriers.

Whole-exome sequencing identifies ten risk genes for schizophrenia implicated by rare protein-coding variants, a subset of which overlap with risk genes in other neurodevelopmental disorders.

A new analysis of large biobanks uncovers genetic variants associated with longitudinal changes in medication for cardiometabolic diseases and presents polygenic scores of medication-use behavior.

How the 22q11.2 deletion predisposes to psychiatric disease is unclear. Here, the authors examine living human neuronal cells and show that 22q11.2 regulates the expression of genes linked to autism during early development, and genes linked to schizophrenia and synaptic biology in neurons.

Many aging-related phenotypes share a common genetic component, but to disentangle disease-specific variants from aging-specific ones has been challenging. Here Timmers et al. combined several genetics studies of aging-related traits to identify common underlying genetic factors that contribute to aging.

Single-cell analysis of lung, heart, kidney and liver autopsy samples shows the molecular and cellular changes and immune response resulting from severe COVID-19 infection.

Common genetic variants associated with plasma lipids have been extensively studied for a better understanding of common diseases. Here, the authors use whole-genome sequencing of 16,324 individuals to analyze rare variant associations and to determine their monogenic and polygenic contribution to lipid traits.

Gustafsson, Lampa et al. used proteomics, metabolomics and clinical factors in a case–cohort study to identify biomarkers of imminent myocardial infarction and devise a prediction model for imminent myocardial infarction, which can be clinically used in the general population.

STAARpipeline is a comprehensive framework for flexible and scalable rare-variant association analysis using whole-genome sequencing data and annotation information.

Here 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche, a marker of puberty timing in females, are identified; these loci show enrichment for genes involved in nuclear hormone receptor function, body mass index, and rare disorders of puberty, and for genes located in imprinted regions, with parent-of-origin specific effects at several loci.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.