Despite genetic makeup, following heart health guidelines can decrease risk of heart disease

Following Life’s Simple 7 guidelines developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) can significantly lower the risk of coronary heart disease despite a genetic predisposition, according to researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston）。

The study was publishedtoday在循环。

Life’s Simple 7 identifies seven risk factors people can manage through lifestyle changes to improve their heart health. They include eating better, increasing physical activity, managing blood pressure, controlling cholesterol, reducing blood sugar, losing weight, and stopping smoking.

The study looked at how the effect of adhering to these lifestyle guidelines differed for individuals according to their genetic predisposition for coronary heart disease. The genetic predisposition for heart disease was calculated using a genetic risk tool called a polygenic risk score, which effectively summarizes an individual’s genetic information into a single score.

“One of the main motivations of this study was to provide insight on the question: ‘If I have a high polygenic risk of coronary heart disease, to what extent can I compensate for this through a healthy lifestyle?’” said Natalie Hasbani, MPH, research assistant and doctoral candidate atUTHealth School of Public Health in Dallas和研究的主要作者。“我们发现，无论一个人的遗传易感性如何，他们都可以通过遵守AHA的一生简单的7指南来降低患冠心病的机会，但是那些具有最高多基因风险的人可以获得最大的收益。”

beplay苹果手机能用吗研究人员检查了来自45岁以上的8,372名白人参与者和2,314名黑人参与者的数据，并且没有冠心病。他们根据多基因风险和遵守AHA生活的简单7指南，研究了一个人一生患冠心病的差异，并没有冠心病。

“Previous studies have shown that polygenic risk predicts coronary heart disease, and some studies have suggested that high polygenic risk can be offset by maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” said Paul de Vries, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental sciences at休斯敦的Uthealth公共卫生学院and senior author on the study. “These studies, however, have mainly examined relative risks, without translating this to measures of absolute risk that are easier to interpret.”

According to investigators, the lifetime risk of white participants with high polygenic risk of coronary heart disease was approximately 40% compared to 20% for those with low polygenic risk.

Additionally, researchers found that white participants with high polygenic risk had a lifetime risk as high as 67% when they also had a poor Life’s Simple 7 score, but as low as 24% when they had an ideal Life’s Simple 7 score.

“These results suggest that people with high polygenic risks can more than compensate for this through lifestyle changes. Another way to look at this is that among white participants with high polygenic risk, those with ideal Life’s Simple 7 score lived free of coronary heart disease for over 20 additional years compared to those with poor Life’s Simple 7 score,” de Vries said.

在黑人参与者中，专家发现生活方式的终生风险有类似的差异，但根据遗传易感性的差异不太明显。但是，他们说，尚不可能总结非洲血统个体之间的遗传倾向，并且在欧洲血统中也可以做到这一点。“这是因为针对非洲血统个体的遗传联想研究的样本量目前远远落后于样本量，用于专注于欧洲血统参与者的研究。在未来几年中，纠正这种差异应该是研究界的优先事项。”beplay苹果手机能用吗

“The bottom line is that regardless of anyone’s genetic susceptibility, it is very important to have a healthy diet and live a healthy lifestyle,” said Hasbani. “There is all of this information out there about what we might develop based on our genetics, but it doesn’t determine your fate. You can lower your risk through lifestyle changes that, unlike your genetics, are under your control.”

Additional UTHealth Houston authors include: Eric Boerwinkle, PhD; Alanna C. Morrison, PhD; Allison Bebo, MPH; Michael R. Brown, MS; Adam S. Heath, MS, with UTHealth School of Public Health. Other authors include: David Aguilar, MD, with the University of Kentucky; Symen Ligthart, MD, PhD with Erasmus University Medical Center; Kellan E. Ashley, MD with University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Aaron R. Folsom, MD, with University of Minnesota.