Need Help?

Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Cardiorenal GWAS

REGARDS is a national, population-based, longitudinal study of incident stroke and associated risk factors including over 30,000 Black and White adults aged 45 years or older from all 48 contiguous U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The study was designed to investigate reasons underlying the higher rate of stroke mortality among Black participants compared to White participants and among residents of the Southeastern U.S. compared to other U.S. regions. By design, Black adults and residents of the deep south were oversampled. Between 2003 and 2007 (baseline visit) participants completed a computer-assisted telephone interview to collect demographic information and medication adherence, and an in-home visit for blood pressure measurements and collection of blood and urine samples. Following the baseline visit, participants have been contacted by phone at six-month intervals to obtain information on incident stroke or secondary outcomes. Additionally, samples and data were collected on about 50% of the original cohort during a second study visit an average of 10 years after the baseline visit. Genotyping was performed as part of an ancillary study on 10,788 (84% Black) participants using Illumina MEGA arrays.