Aims: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disease influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. This short communication gives a description of the preliminary genetic results from a case-control study in Bergen, Norway.
Methods: A large case-control study in Bergen in 2003-2005 with 6365 invited subjects generated 1954 cases or controls. The overall attendance of invited subjects was 60%, but causes of non-attendance varied considerably among different sources of recruitment.
Results: In this case-control study, the candidate gene SERPINE2 on chromosome 2q has demonstrated significant association to COPD. However, only weak or lacking associations have so far been observed for the other candidate genes examined.
Conclusion: These findings provide support for SERPINE2 as a COPD susceptibility gene in the Norwegian population.