Cohort Profile: Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic studies (AWI-Gen) in four sub-Saharan African countries

Furahini Tluway¹, Godfred Agongo^{2

3}, Vukosi Baloyi⁴, Palwende Romuald Boua^{1

5}, Isaac Kisiangani⁶, Moussa Lingani⁵, Reneilwe Given Mashaba⁷, Shukri F Mohamed⁶, Engelbert A Nonterah³, Cairo Bruce Ntimana⁷, Toussaint Rouamba⁵, Theophilous Mathema¹, Siyanda Madala^{1

8}, Dylan G Maghini^{1

9}, Ananyo Choudhury¹, Nigel J Crowther¹⁰, Scott Hazelhurst^{1

11}, Dhriti Sengupta¹, Patrick Ansah³, Solomon Simon Rampai Choma¹², Cornelius Debpuur¹³, F Xavier Gómez-Olivé¹⁴, Kathleen Kahn¹⁴, Lisa K Micklesfield⁴, Shane A Norris^{4

15}, Abraham R Oduro¹³, Hermann Sorgho⁵, Paulina Tindana¹⁶, Halidou Tinto⁵, Stephen Tollman¹⁴, Alisha Wade¹⁴, Michèle Ramsay¹; as members of AWI-Gen and the H3Africa Consortium

Collaborators, Affiliations

Collaborators

as members of AWI-Gen and the H3Africa Consortium:
Michele Ramsay, Osman Sankoh, Stephen Tollman, Kathleen Kahn, Marianne Alberts, Catherine Kyobutungi, Halidou Tinto, Abraham Oduro, Shane Norris, Scott Hazelhurst, Nigel Crowther, Himla Soodyall, Zané Lombard

Affiliations

¹ Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Ghana.
³ Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana.
⁴ South African Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁵ Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santè, Nanoro, Burkina Faso.
⁶ African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi, Kenya.
⁷ DIMAMO Population Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
⁸ School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Medicine (Hematology), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹¹ School of Electrical & Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹² Department of Pathology and Medical Sciences, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
¹³ Research and Development Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana.
¹⁴ MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹⁵ School of Human Development and Health, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁶ Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra Ghana.

PMID: 39899987
PMCID: PMC11790221
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyae173

Cohort Profile: Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic studies (AWI-Gen) in four sub-Saharan African countries

Furahini Tluway et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2024.

. 2024 Dec 16;54(1):dyae173.

doi: 10.1093/ije/dyae173.

Authors

Collaborators

as members of AWI-Gen and the H3Africa Consortium:
Michele Ramsay, Osman Sankoh, Stephen Tollman, Kathleen Kahn, Marianne Alberts, Catherine Kyobutungi, Halidou Tinto, Abraham Oduro, Shane Norris, Scott Hazelhurst, Nigel Crowther, Himla Soodyall, Zané Lombard

Affiliations

¹ Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Ghana.
³ Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service, Navrongo, Ghana.
⁴ South African Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁵ Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santè, Nanoro, Burkina Faso.
⁶ African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Nairobi, Kenya.
⁷ DIMAMO Population Research Centre, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
⁸ School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Medicine (Hematology), Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Service, University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹¹ School of Electrical & Information Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹² Department of Pathology and Medical Sciences, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
¹³ Research and Development Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana.
¹⁴ MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹⁵ School of Human Development and Health, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁶ Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra Ghana.

PMID: 39899987
PMCID: PMC11790221
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyae173

No abstract available

Keywords: AWI-Gen; adult population cohort; cardiometabolic disease; genetics; genomics; gut microbiome; sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Description of the AWI-Gen study across two waves of data collection. (A) Location of the six study locations in health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSS) and the Developmental Pathways to Health Research Unit (DPHRU), showing the number of participants recruited in Wave 1 and the number recalled in Wave 2. Note that the DIMAMO cohort was enhanced in Wave 2 due to the lower recruitment numbers in Wave 1. (B) Number of men and women per study centre with the augmentation in DIMAMO shown with the cross-hatching. (C) Timeline showing community engagement that is still ongoing, and recruitment during Wave 1 and Wave 2. Recruitment started earlier in Soweto since we onboarded women from a study on menopause which was already on the files from 2012. Six PhD students graduated through the Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic studies (AWI-Gen) study and a further three are in progress. AWI-Gen meetings coincided with some of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium meetings, and training workshops were held to ensure that data were collected according to the same protocols and standard operating procedures. The colour coding per centre is consistent across all figures

**Figure 2**
Outcomes from the longitudinal AWI-Gen study highlighting genetic diversity and key cardiometabolic diseases risk factors and endpoints. (A) Distribution of ages of participants in Wave 1 and Wave 2. (B) Principal component (PC) analysis using genome-wide genotyping data from the H3Africa single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array, showing the clustering of participants from the South, East and West Africa study centres. It highlights the population sub-structure and emphasizes the need to adjust for ancestry in genome-wide association studies. (C) Distribution of body mass index (BMI) in women (F) and men (M) in Wave 1 and Wave 2, noting the higher BMI in women and overall, in the East and South African cohorts. Note that outliers and individuals with BMI >70 (n = 2) were excluded from this visualization. Lower and upper hinges correspond to first and third quartiles, and whiskers indicate largest and smallest values within 1.5 * interquartile range. (D) The prevalence % of the combined cohort of four key cardiometabolic outcomes, diabetes, obesity and overweight, chronic kidney disease and hypertension, at two different time points (Wave 1 and Wave 2). Almost all conditions have a higher prevalence at Wave 2 when participants are about 5 years older. Note the different scales for the percentages

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Forouzanfar MH, Afshin A, Alexander LT et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 2016;388:1659–724. - PMC - PubMed
1. Gouda HN. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 2018;392:1923–94. Erratum in: Lancet 2019;393:132. Erratum in: Lancet 2019;393:e44. - PMC - PubMed
1. Gomez F, Hirbo J, Tishkoff SA. Genetic variation and adaptation in africa: implications for human evolution and disease. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2014;6:a008524. - PMC - PubMed
1. Choudhury AH3Africa Consortium Aron S, Botigué LR et al. High-depth African genomes inform human migration and health. Nature 2020;586:741–48. Erratum in: Nature 2021;592:E26. - PMC - PubMed
1. Sengupta DH3Africa Consortium Choudhury A, Fortes-Lima C et al. Genetic substructure and complex demographic history of South African Bantu speakers. Nat Commun 2021;12:2080. - PMC - PubMed

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Cohort Profile: Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic studies (AWI-Gen) in four sub-Saharan African countries

Collaborators

Affiliations

Cohort Profile: Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic studies (AWI-Gen) in four sub-Saharan African countries

Authors

Collaborators

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources