DOI: 10.1161/circgen.125.004307 ISSN: 2574-8300

Effects of Polygenic Risk Scores and Physical Activity on Blood Pressure Trajectories in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood

Tian Xie, Shili Luo, Chris H.L. Thio, Marloes Cardol, Eva Corpeleijn, Gerton Lunter, Harold Snieder, Evangelos Evangelou, Helen R Warren, He Gao, Georgios Ntritsos, Niki Dimou, Tonu Esko, Reedik Mägi, Lili Milani, Peter Almgren, Thibaud Boutin, Stéphanie Debette, Jun Ding, Franco Giulianini, Elizabeth G Holliday, Anne U Jackson, Ruifang Li-Gao, Wei-Yu Lin, Jian’an Luan, Massimo Mangino, Christopher Oldmeadow, Bram Peter Prins, Yong Qian, Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, Nabi Shah, Praveen Surendran, Sébastien Thériault, Niek Verweij, Sara M Willems, Jing-Hua Zhao, Philippe Amouyel, John Connell, Renée de Mutsert, Alex SF Doney, Martin Farrall, Cristina Menni, Andrew D Morris, Raymond Noordam, Guillaume Paré, Neil R Poulter, Denis C Shields, Alice Stanton, Simon Thom, Gonçalo Abecasis, Najaf Amin, Dan E Arking, Kristin L Ayers, Caterina M Barbieri, Chiara Batini, Joshua C Bis, Tineka Blake, Murielle Bochud, Michael Boehnke, Eric Boerwinkle, Dorret I Boomsma, Erwin P Bottinger, Peter S Braund, Marco Brumat, Archie Campbell, Harry Campbell, Aravinda Chakravarti, John C Chambers, Ganesh Chauhan, Marina Ciullo, Massimiliano Cocca, Francis Collins, Heather J Cordell, Gail Davies, Martin H de Borst, Eco J de Geus, Ian J Deary, Joris Deelen, Fabiola Del Greco M, Cumhur Yusuf Demirkale, Marcus Dörr, Georg B Ehret, Roberto Elosua, Stefan Enroth, A Mesut Erzurumluoglu, Teresa Ferreira, Mattias Frånberg, Oscar H Franco, Ilaria Gandin, Paolo Gasparini, Vilmantas Giedraitis, Christian Gieger, Giorgia Girotto, Anuj Goel, Alan J Gow, Vilmundur Gudnason, Xiuqing Guo, Ulf Gyllensten, Anders Hamsten, Tamara B Harris, Sarah E Harris, Catharina A Hartman, Aki S Havulinna, Andrew A Hicks, Edith Hofer, Albert Hofman, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Jennifer E Huffman, Shih-Jen Hwang, Erik Ingelsson, Alan James, Rick Jansen, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Roby Joehanes, Åsa Johansson, Andrew D Johnson, Peter K Joshi, Pekka Jousilahti, J Wouter Jukema, Antti Jula, Mika Kähönen, Sekar Kathiresan, Bernard D Keavney, Kay-Tee Khaw, Paul Knekt, Joanne Knight, Ivana Kolcic, Jaspal S Kooner, Seppo Koskinen, Kati Kristiansson, Zoltan Kutalik, Maris Laan, Marty Larson, Lenore J Launer, Benjamin Lehnei, Terho Lehtimäki, David CM Liewald, Li Lin, Lars Lind, Cecilia M Lindgren, YongMei Liu, Ruth JF Loos, Lorna M Lopez, Yingchang Lu, Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen, Anubha Mahajan, Chrysovalanto Mamasoula, Jaume Marrugat, Jonathan Marten, Yuri Milaneschi, Anna Morgan, Andrew P Morris, Alanna C Morrison, Peter J Munson, Mike A Nalls, Priyanka Nandakumar, Christopher P Nelson, Teemu Niiranen, Ilja M Nolte, Teresa Nutile, Albertine J Oldehinkel, Ben A Oostra, Paul F O’Reilly, Elin Org, Sandosh Padmanabhan, Walter Palmas, Aarno Palotie, Alison Pattie, Brenda WJH Penninx, Markus Perola, Annette Peters, Ozren Polasek, Peter P Pramstaller, Quang Tri Nguyen, Olli T Raitakari, Rainer Rettig, Kenneth Rice, Paul M Ridker, Janina S Ried, Harriëtte Riese, Samuli Ripatti, Antonietta Robino, Lynda M Rose, Jerome I Rotter, Igor Rudan, Daniela Ruggiero, Yasaman Saba, Cinzia F Sala, Veikko Salomaa, Nilesh J Samani, Antti-Pekka Sarin, Reinhold Schmidt, Helena Schmidt, Nick Shrine, David Siscovick, Albert V Smith, Siim Sõber, Rossella Sorice, John M Starr, David J Stott, David P Strachan, Rona J Strawbridge, Johan Sundström, Morris A Swertz, Kent D Taylor, Alexander Teumer, Martin D Tobin, Maciej Tomaszewski, Daniela Toniolo, Michela Traglia, Stella Trompet, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Christophe Tzourio, André G Uitterlinden, Ahmad Vaez, Peter J van der Most, Cornelia M van Duijn, Germaine C Verwoert, Veronique Vitart, Uwe Völker, Peter Vollenweider, Dragana Vuckovic, Hugh Watkins, Sarah H Wild, Gonneke Willemsen, James F Wilson, Alan F Wright, Jie Yao, Tatijana Zemunik, Weihua Zhang, John R Attia, Adam S Butterworth, Daniel I Chasman, David Conen, Francesco Cucca, John Danesh, Caroline Hayward, Joanna MM Howson, Markku Laakso, Edward G Lakatta, Claudia Langenberg, Olle Melander, Dennis O Mook-Kanamori, Colin NA Palmer, Lorenz Risch, Robert A Scott, Rodney J Scott, Peter Sever, Tim D Spector, Pim van der Harst, Nicholas J Wareham, Eleftheria Zeggini, Daniel Levy, Patricia B Munroe, Christopher Newton-Cheh, Morris J Brown, Andres Metspalu, Bruce M. Psaty, Louise V Wain, Paul Elliott, Mark J Caulfield

BACKGROUND:

Understanding the effects of genetics and lifestyle habits such as physical activity on blood pressure (BP) trajectories at an early age helps to improve understanding of the pathogenesis of hypertension over the life course.

METHODS:

BP was assessed twice (at baseline and follow-up) in prepuberty (n=1063; age 5–6 years; median follow-up, 4.72 years), puberty (n=2494; age 8–14 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years), and postpuberty (n=2549; age 15–20 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years). We calculated polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for BP based on the largest BP genome-wide association study and examined the associations of PRSs with BP trajectories in the 3 age epochs, using linear mixed models.

RESULTS:

One SD of PRSs was positively associated with 1.70, 1.65, and 2.92 mm Hg SBP level and 1.68, 0.85, and 1.18 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure (DBP) level at ages 5, 8, and 15 years, respectively. There was evidence of associations between PRSs and rates of change in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. During puberty, individuals in the highest quartile of systolic blood pressure (SBP)-PRS showed a 0.32 (95% CI, 0.02–0.63) mm Hg greater increase in SBP per year compared with those in the lowest quartile, while in postpuberty, those in the highest quartile of the DBP-PRS exhibited a 0.24 (95% CI, 0.02–0.45) mm Hg/y greater increase in DBP. Children who were physically active had, on average, 1.90 (95% CI, −3.77 to −0.03) mm Hg lower initial SBP than inactive children in puberty. No evidence was found for interactions of physical activity with PRS on BP levels or changes.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our study suggests that genetic influences on BP are evident as early as age 5 and extend to dynamic changes in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. Higher physical activity may reduce SBP levels in puberty independent of genetic susceptibility.