Large-Scale Candidate Gene Analysis in Whites and African Americans Identifies IL6R Polymorphism in Relation to Atrial Fibrillation The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe) Project

Background— The genetic background of atrial fibrillation (AF) in whites and African Americans is largely unknown. Genes in cardiovascular pathways have not been systematically investigated. Methods and Results— We examined a panel of approximately 50 000 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 2095 cardiovascular candidate genes and AF in 3 cohorts with participants of European (n=18 524; 2260 cases) or African American descent (n=3662; 263 cases) in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Candidate Gene Association Resource. Results in whites were followed up in the German Competence Network for AF (n=906, 468 cases). The top result was assessed in relation to incident i…