Polygenic Risk Scores for Cardiometabolic Diseases: Where Are We?

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are a summary of many single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with a particular condition. The idea is that people have many such SNPs throughout their genome, and the effect of each one is small, but in aggregate the totality could be meaningful. Investigators conducted a scoping review of PRSs related to cardiometabolic disease.

The researchers identified 82 relevant studies, with study samples ranging from about 600 to more than 3 million people. Most studies (56) were conducted only among people of European ancestry. The PRSs were most commonly associated with coronary artery disease (34), hypertension (13), and cerebrovascular disease (12) but included some for atrial fibrillation, diabetes, dyslip…