How Communicating Polygenic and Clinical Risk for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Impacts Health Behavior: an...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Genetics
• Preventive Health

Background:

• Polygenic risk scores (PRS) combined with clinical factors offer potential for improved atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) prediction and prevention.
• The clinical utility of PRS in real-world applications remains largely undetermined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of returning personalized ASCVD risk information, incorporating PRS and clinical factors, on participants' health behaviors.
• To assess the feasibility of integrating genomic information into clinical risk calculators for enhanced disease prevention.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort of 7342 individuals (64% women, mean age 56) was analyzed.
• 10-year ASCVD risk was estimated using traditional and composite scores (PRS + clinical factors).
• The effect of communicating personalized risk via an interactive web-tool on health behavior was tested.

Main Results:

• After 1.5 years, 42.6% of high-risk individuals (vs. 33.5% low/average risk) made at least one health behavior change.
• High baseline risk independently predicted favorable changes (OR 1.53), with both clinical and genomic risk contributing.
• Specific changes included increased doctor visits, weight loss, smoking cessation, and health coaching enrollment.

Conclusions:

• Web-based communication of personalized ASCVD risk, including PRS, motivates positive health behavior changes and care-seeking in middle-aged adults.
• This study supports the integration of genomic information into clinical risk calculators as a feasible strategy for enhancing ASCVD prevention.