FIGURE 1.

Flowcharts illustrating inclusion and exclusion criteria for a) 2728 genotyped individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) from the Canadian CF Gene Modifier Study for the genome-wide association study (GWAS) of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa age and b) 2465 genotyped individuals from the French CF Modifier Gene Study for validation analysis. To minimise the confounding effect of variation in severity of the causal CFTR (CF transmembrane conductance regulator) genotype, we included only individuals with genotypes known to confer pancreatic insufficiency [2]. Moreover, to reduce the confounding influence of CF treatment, we restricted the analysis to modulator-naïve individuals. ^#: we followed the sample inclusion procedures in Mesinele et al. [6] which restricted to individuals born between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2019. However, within this cohort, only 144 individuals (born before 2010) were genotyped and presented chronic P. aeruginosa infection. To ensure a sufficient sample size, we instead utilised a cohort (n=501) born within a two-decade span preceding the date of birth of the youngest genotyped individual. This selected cohort consists of individuals born between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 2009.