We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12-16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half the PGI's magnitude of association with EA and other phenotypes. The correlation between mate-pair PGIs is far too large to be consistent with phenotypic assortment alone, implying additional assortment on PGI-associated factors. In an additional GWAS of dominance deviations from the additive model, we identify no genome-wide-significant SNPs, and a separate X-chromosome additive GWAS identifies 57.
FörderungenRiksbankens Jubileumsfond (Stiftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC) Genome Canada (Génome Canada) Department of Education and Training | Australian Research Council (ARC) Ragnar Söderbergs stiftelse (Ragnar Söderberg Foundation) NIMH NIH HHS U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (U.S. National Institute on Aging) Department of Health | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NIA NIH HHS