Digna R. Velez Edwards

INTRODUCTION: Mother-to-child disease transmission begins in utero, with the placenta playing a critical role in pregnancy and offspring health. Uterine leiomyomata (fibroids, UFs) and endometriosis (ENDO) are common gynecologic diseases th…

BACKGROUND: The burden of comorbidities in those with uterine fibroids compared to those without fibroids is understudied. We performed a phenome-wide association study to systematically assess the association between fibroids and other con…

We report the findings of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of endometriosis across 14 biobanks worldwide, including 32% non-European patient participants, as part of the Global Biobank Meta-Analysis Initiative (GBMI). Ou…

Uterine leiomyomata (fibroids, UFs) are common, benign tumors in females, having an estimated prevalence of up to 80%. They are fibrous masses growing within the myometrium leading to chronic symptoms like dysmenorrhea, abnormal uterine ble…

We report the findings of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of endometriosis consisting of a large portion (31%) of non-European samples across 14 biobanks worldwide as part of the Global Biobank Meta-Analysis Initiative …

The intersection of women's health and data science is a field of research that has historically trailed other fields, but more recently it has gained momentum. This growth is being driven not only by new investigators who are moving into t…

Background Cardiometabolic diseases are highly comorbid, but their relationship with female-specific or overwhelmingly female-predominant health conditions (breast cancer, endometriosis, pregnancy complications) is understudied. This study …

Endometriosis is a chronic, complex disease for which there are vast disparities in diagnosis and treatment between sociodemographic groups. Clinical presentation of endometriosis can vary from asymptomatic disease-often identified during (…

Diseases such as uterine leiomyomata (fibroids and benign tumors of the uterus) and keloids (raised scars) may share common etiology. Fibroids and keloids can co-occur in individuals, and both are highly heritable, suggesting they may share…

Race, as a social construct without a clear genetic underpinning, is frequently referenced in medicine as predictor of multiple diseases including that of infertility. The authors will discuss how systematic racism can have downstream conse…

Uterine fibroids (UF) are common pelvic tumors in women, heritable, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified ~ 30 loci associated with increased risk in UF. Using summary statistics from a previously published UF GWAS perf…

STUDY QUESTION: Is there a shared genetic or causal association of endometriosis with asthma or what biological mechanisms may underlie their potential relationships? SUMMARY ANSWER: Our results confirm a significant but non-causal associa…

Evidence from observational studies indicates that endometriosis and depression often co-occur. However, conflicting evidence exists, and the etiology as well as biological mechanisms underlying their comorbidity remain unknown. Utilizing g…

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >250 loci for body mass index (BMI), implicating pathways related to neuronal biology. Most GWAS loci represent clusters of common, noncoding variants from which pinpointing causal gene…

In the published version of this paper, the name of author Emanuele Di Angelantonio was misspelled. This error has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

Evidence suggests European American (EA) women have two- to five-fold increased odds of having pelvic organ prolapse (POP) when compared with African American (AA) women. However, the role of genetic ancestry in relation to POP risk is not …

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified 19 independent common risk loci for endometriosis. Most of the GWA variants are non-coding and the genes responsible for the association signals have not been identified. Herein, we aime…

BACKGROUND: Resting metabolic rates (RMR) vary across individuals. Understanding the determinants of RMR could provide biological insight into obesity and its metabolic consequences such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. METH…

Endometriosis is a heritable hormone-dependent gynecological disorder, associated with severe pelvic pain and reduced fertility; however, its molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here we perform a meta-analysis of 11 genome-wide ass…

We sought to determine the relationship of fibroids to pregnancy loss in a prospective cohort in which fibroid status was uniformly documented in early pregnancy. Participants had an intake interview, transvaginal ultrasonography, computer-…

Genetic epidemiology, the study of genetic contributions to risk for disease, is an innovative area in medicine. Although research in this arena has advanced in other disciplines, few genetic epidemiological studies have been conducted in o…