A Possible Polygenic Risk Score to Predict Early-Onset Coronary Artery Disease

Defining the appropriate patients for testing and the appropriate response by clinicians to test results will be key.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) has a strong genetic component, but precisely identifying individuals at risk from this polygenic disease is difficult. These researchers developed a polygenic risk score calculated from 182 single nucleotide polymorphisms previously associated with CAD.

Using UK Biobank data on a half-million individuals who provided blood, urine, and saliva for genotyping, the researchers calculated genetic risks for CAD in 96 participants with early-onset CAD (77 men; age at diagnosis: men, ≤40; women, ≤45) and in 111,283 individuals without CAD (controls). The mean risk score was higher in participants with early-onset CAD than controls (11.21 vs. 10.88; P=3.21 x 10^–9). After adjustment for sex, age, smoking, waist-to-hip ra…

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)