Genetic understanding of the relationship between height and preeclampsia

Summary

The purpose is to understand the causes of preeclampsia

Abstract:

The purpose is to understand the causes of preeclampsia. It has long been known that maternal height is associated with the risk of developing preeclampsia during pregnancy. To understand this further, we will see if paternal height is also associated with the mother's risk. If this is not the case, we can conclude that the effect does not go via fetal genes. To understand the effect of maternal height, we will also use results from another project where we have the genotype of 11,000 mother-father-child trios from the Norwegian Mother and Child Study (MoBa). We will calculate the so-called polygene risk score for height based on the genotypes. If this turns out to be associated with maternal risk of preeclampsia, we will have stronger evidence to say that there is a causal relationship between height and preeclampsia. This can lead us on the trail of the causes of this serious disease.