ASHG Abstract Presented by Alyssa Scartozzi, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
The following is a significant abstract released on Thursday, November 2, during the Annual American Association of Human Genetics meeting (ASHG 2023), being held in Washington, DC, November 1-5.
Researchers found a potential connection between genetic risk for stuttering, a speech disorder characterized by repetition of sounds and pauses in speech, and body mass index, sleep patterns, suicide ideation, and testosterone levels. The research team also found a potential link between stuttering and depression. The study identified 92 genes across all tissues potentially linked to stuttering in females and 24 genes related to stuttering in males, significantly more than had been found in previous studies. The data emerged from more than a million self-reported stuttering cases and controls captured from 23andMe. A deeper understanding of the association of certain traits and stuttering and possible genes that lead to stuttering could help inform treatment and recognition of differences in presentation between men and women.