Effects of polygenic risk score and sodium and potassium intake on hypertension in Asians: A nationwide prospective cohort study

Abstract Genetic factors, lifestyle, and diet have been shown to play important roles in the development of hypertension. Increased salt intake is an important risk factor for hypertension. However, research on the involvement of genetic factors in the relationship between salt intake and hypertension in Asians is lacking. We aimed to investigate the risk of hypertension in relation to sodium and potassium intake and the effects of genetic factors on their interactions. We used Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study data and calculated the polygenic risk score (PRS) for the effect of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP). We also conducted multivariable logistic modeling to evaluate associations among incident hypertension, PRS SBP , PRS DBP , and sodium and potassium intake. In total, 41,351 subjects were included in the test set. The top 10% PRS SBP group was the youngest of the three groups (bottom 10%, middle, top 10%), had the highest proportion of women, and had the highest body mass index, baseline BP, red meat intake, and alcohol consumption. The multivariable logistic regression model revealed the risk of hypertension was significantly associated with higher PRS SBP , higher sodium intake, and lower potassium intake. There was significant interaction between sodium intake and PRS SBP for incident hypertension especially in sodium intake ≥2.0 g/day and PRS SBP top 10% group (OR 1.27 (1.07–1.51), P = 0.007). Among patients at a high risk of incident hypertension due to sodium intake, lifestyle modifications and sodium restriction were especially important to prevent hypertension.