Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.

Disease networks offer a potential road map of connections between diseases. Several studies have created disease networks where diseases are connected either based on shared genes or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) associations. However, it is still unclear to which degree SNP-based networks m...

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Main Authors: Martina Hall, Marit K Skinderhaug, Eivind Almaas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311485
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author Martina Hall
Marit K Skinderhaug
Eivind Almaas
author_facet Martina Hall
Marit K Skinderhaug
Eivind Almaas
author_sort Martina Hall
collection DOAJ
description Disease networks offer a potential road map of connections between diseases. Several studies have created disease networks where diseases are connected either based on shared genes or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) associations. However, it is still unclear to which degree SNP-based networks map to empirical, co-observed diseases within a different, general, adult study population spanning over a long time period. We created a SNP-based phenome-wide association network (PheNet) from a large population using the UK biobank phenome-wide association studies. Importantly, the SNP-associations are unbiased towards much studied diseases, adjusted for linkage disequilibrium, case/control imbalances, as well as relatedness. We map the PheNet to significantly co-occurring diseases in the Norwegian HUNT study population, and further, identify consecutively occurring diseases with significant ordering in occurrence, independent of age and gender in the PheNet. Our analysis reveals an overlap far larger than expected by chance between the two disease networks, with diseases typically connecting within their own category. Upon examining the sequential occurrence of diseases in the HUNT dataset, we find a giant component consisting of mostly cardiovascular disorders. This allows us to identify sequentially occurring diseases that are genetically linked and co-occur frequently, while also highlighting non-sequential diseases. Furthermore, we observe that survivors of severe cardiovascular diseases subsequently often face less severe conditions, but with a reduced time until their next fatal illness. The HUNT sub-PheNet showing both genetically and co-observed diseases offers an interesting framework to study groups of diseases and examine if they, in fact, are comorbidities. We find that the HUNT sub-PheNet offers the possibility to pinpoint exactly which mutation(s) constitute shared cause of the diseases. This could be of great benefit to both researchers and clinicians studying relationships between diseases.
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spelling doaj-art-00c8bbc5632448a2a3ea26507969481e2025-08-20T02:44:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011912e031148510.1371/journal.pone.0311485Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.Martina HallMarit K SkinderhaugEivind AlmaasDisease networks offer a potential road map of connections between diseases. Several studies have created disease networks where diseases are connected either based on shared genes or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) associations. However, it is still unclear to which degree SNP-based networks map to empirical, co-observed diseases within a different, general, adult study population spanning over a long time period. We created a SNP-based phenome-wide association network (PheNet) from a large population using the UK biobank phenome-wide association studies. Importantly, the SNP-associations are unbiased towards much studied diseases, adjusted for linkage disequilibrium, case/control imbalances, as well as relatedness. We map the PheNet to significantly co-occurring diseases in the Norwegian HUNT study population, and further, identify consecutively occurring diseases with significant ordering in occurrence, independent of age and gender in the PheNet. Our analysis reveals an overlap far larger than expected by chance between the two disease networks, with diseases typically connecting within their own category. Upon examining the sequential occurrence of diseases in the HUNT dataset, we find a giant component consisting of mostly cardiovascular disorders. This allows us to identify sequentially occurring diseases that are genetically linked and co-occur frequently, while also highlighting non-sequential diseases. Furthermore, we observe that survivors of severe cardiovascular diseases subsequently often face less severe conditions, but with a reduced time until their next fatal illness. The HUNT sub-PheNet showing both genetically and co-observed diseases offers an interesting framework to study groups of diseases and examine if they, in fact, are comorbidities. We find that the HUNT sub-PheNet offers the possibility to pinpoint exactly which mutation(s) constitute shared cause of the diseases. This could be of great benefit to both researchers and clinicians studying relationships between diseases.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311485
spellingShingle Martina Hall
Marit K Skinderhaug
Eivind Almaas
Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
PLoS ONE
title Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
title_full Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
title_fullStr Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
title_full_unstemmed Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
title_short Phenome-wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the HUNT study.
title_sort phenome wide association network demonstrates close connection with individual disease trajectories from the hunt study
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311485
work_keys_str_mv AT martinahall phenomewideassociationnetworkdemonstratescloseconnectionwithindividualdiseasetrajectoriesfromthehuntstudy
AT maritkskinderhaug phenomewideassociationnetworkdemonstratescloseconnectionwithindividualdiseasetrajectoriesfromthehuntstudy
AT eivindalmaas phenomewideassociationnetworkdemonstratescloseconnectionwithindividualdiseasetrajectoriesfromthehuntstudy