Genetic predictors for cardiovascular disease in hispanics

A less favorable cardiovascular risk factor profile but paradoxically lower cardiovascular morbidity and mortality have been observed in Hispanics--a pattern often referred to as the Hispanic paradox. It has been proposed that the specific genetic susceptibility of this admixed population and gene-environment interactions may partly explain the paradox. During the past few years, there have been major advances in the identification of genetic risk factors using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for cardiovascular disease, especially in Caucasians. However, no GWAS of cardiovascular disease have been reported in Hispanics. In the Costa Rican Heart Study, we reported both the consistency and disparity of genetic effects on risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) between Hispanics and other ethnic groups. We demonstrated that the improvement in the identified genetic markers on discrimination of CHD in Hispanics was modest. Future genetic research on Hispanics should consider the diversity in genetic structure, lifestyle, and socioeconomics among various subpopulations and comprehensively evaluate potential gene-environment interactions in relation to cardiovascular risk.