Communicating high CAD polygenic risk did not lead to significant changes in BMI or other cardiovascular risk factors after 12 months in young overweight adults.
Does communicating high polygenic risk for coronary artery disease improve body mass index and cardiovascular risk factors in young overweight adults?
Communicating high polygenic risk for coronary artery disease to young, overweight adults does not significantly improve BMI or other cardiovascular risk factors compared to standard risk communication.
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
Around 50% of the variation in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is attributable to heritable factors, and polygenic risk scores (PRS) can now capture part of that genetic component. As personalised public health advances, polygenic risk scores (PRS) may offer a useful tool for conveying overall CVD risk, particularly in younger populations, but require evaluation in real-world clinical trials. This study evaluated the effects of integrating coronary artery disease polygenic risk scores (CAD PRS) into CVD risk estimation and risk communication among young, overweight adults (25–44 years, BMI = 25.0–29.99 kg/m2). This was a parallel-group, double-blind, randomised controlled trial with a 12-month follow-up. A total of 1020 participants were randomised into intervention (n = 510) and control (n = 510) groups. The primary outcome measure was BMI; secondary outcomes included systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, waist circumference, 10-year CVD risk, preventive treatment prescription, smoking prevalence, alcohol consumption, diet, and physical activity. Per-protocol analyses used t-tests for continuous data, chi-square for categorical data, ANCOVA for adjusted outcomes, linear and logistic models for risk factors, with significance at p 0.14). Self-reported behaviours showed limited impact on smoking prevalence and physical activity (p > 0.1). Prescribing and purchasing of lipid-lowering or antihypertensive medications did not differ between groups (IRR for lipid-lowering drugs 0.93; 95% CI 0.73–1.18), underscoring that the intervention had no measurable impact on either cardiometabolic parameters or preventive treatment patterns. This trial showed that communicating high CAD polygenic risk alone did not lead to behavioural changes or improvements in key cardiovascular risk factors. Future studies should assess interventions combining lifestyle counselling and preventive treatment to more effectively evaluate their potential for long-term cardiovascular risk reduction in individuals with high CAD polygenic risk.Trial registration: Prospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05603663 (03.11.2022).
Põld et al. (Fri,) reported a other. Communicating high CAD polygenic risk did not lead to significant changes in BMI or other cardiovascular risk factors after 12 months in young overweight adults.