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Polygenic scores, diet quality, and type 2 diabetes risk : An observational study among 35,759 adults from 3 US cohorts

Merino, Jordi LU ; Guasch-Ferré, Marta ; Li, Jun ; Chung, Wonil ; Hu, Yang ; Ma, Baoshan ; Li, Yanping ; Kang, Jae H. ; Kraft, Peter and Liang, Liming , et al. (2022) In PLoS Medicine 19(4).
Abstract

Background Bothgenetic and lifestyle factors contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes, but the extent to which there is a synergistic effect of the 2 factors is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the joint associations of genetic risk and diet quality with incident type 2 diabetes. Methods and findings We analyzed data from 35,759 men and women in the United States participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) I (1986 to 2016) and II (1991 to 2017) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS; 1986 to 2016) with available genetic data and who did not have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at baseline. Genetic risk was characterized using both a global polygenic score capturing overall genetic risk and... (More)

Background Bothgenetic and lifestyle factors contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes, but the extent to which there is a synergistic effect of the 2 factors is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the joint associations of genetic risk and diet quality with incident type 2 diabetes. Methods and findings We analyzed data from 35,759 men and women in the United States participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) I (1986 to 2016) and II (1991 to 2017) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS; 1986 to 2016) with available genetic data and who did not have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at baseline. Genetic risk was characterized using both a global polygenic score capturing overall genetic risk and pathway-specific polygenic scores denoting distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. Diet quality was assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for type 2 diabetes after adjusting for potential confounders. WAU ith: Pleas over 902,386 person-years of follow-up, 4,433 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The relative risk of type 2 diabetes was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25, 1.32; P < 0.001) per standard deviation (SD) increase in global polygenic score and 1.13 (1.09, 1.17; P < 0.001) per 10-unit decrease in AHEI. Irrespective of genetic risk, low diet quality, as compared to high diet quality, was associated with approximately 30% increased risk of type 2 diabetes (Pinteraction = 0.69). The joint association of low diet quality and increased genetic risk was similar to the sum of the risk associated with each factor alone (Pinteraction = 0.30). Limitations of this study include the self-report of diet information and possible bias resulting from inclusion of highly educated participants with available genetic data. Conclusions These data provide evidence for the independent associations of genetic risk and diet quality with incident type 2 diabetes and suggest that a healthy diet is associated with lower diabetes risk across all levels of genetic risk.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS Medicine
volume
19
issue
4
article number
e1003972
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:35472203
  • scopus:85128937966
ISSN
1549-1277
DOI
10.1371/journal.pmed.1003972
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c49a8091-b496-4caf-b6bf-b3d6ac0dae79
date added to LUP
2022-07-05 13:05:02
date last changed
2024-07-09 20:51:09
@article{c49a8091-b496-4caf-b6bf-b3d6ac0dae79,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background Bothgenetic and lifestyle factors contribute to the risk of type 2 diabetes, but the extent to which there is a synergistic effect of the 2 factors is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the joint associations of genetic risk and diet quality with incident type 2 diabetes. Methods and findings We analyzed data from 35,759 men and women in the United States participating in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) I (1986 to 2016) and II (1991 to 2017) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS; 1986 to 2016) with available genetic data and who did not have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at baseline. Genetic risk was characterized using both a global polygenic score capturing overall genetic risk and pathway-specific polygenic scores denoting distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. Diet quality was assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI). Cox models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for type 2 diabetes after adjusting for potential confounders. WAU ith: Pleas over 902,386 person-years of follow-up, 4,433 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The relative risk of type 2 diabetes was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.25, 1.32; P &lt; 0.001) per standard deviation (SD) increase in global polygenic score and 1.13 (1.09, 1.17; P &lt; 0.001) per 10-unit decrease in AHEI. Irrespective of genetic risk, low diet quality, as compared to high diet quality, was associated with approximately 30% increased risk of type 2 diabetes (P<sub>interaction</sub> = 0.69). The joint association of low diet quality and increased genetic risk was similar to the sum of the risk associated with each factor alone (P<sub>interaction</sub> = 0.30). Limitations of this study include the self-report of diet information and possible bias resulting from inclusion of highly educated participants with available genetic data. Conclusions These data provide evidence for the independent associations of genetic risk and diet quality with incident type 2 diabetes and suggest that a healthy diet is associated with lower diabetes risk across all levels of genetic risk.</p>}},
  author       = {{Merino, Jordi and Guasch-Ferré, Marta and Li, Jun and Chung, Wonil and Hu, Yang and Ma, Baoshan and Li, Yanping and Kang, Jae H. and Kraft, Peter and Liang, Liming and Sun, Qi and Franks, Paul W. and Manson, Jo Ann E. and Willet, Walter C. and Florez, Jose C. and Hu, Frank B.}},
  issn         = {{1549-1277}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS Medicine}},
  title        = {{Polygenic scores, diet quality, and type 2 diabetes risk : An observational study among 35,759 adults from 3 US cohorts}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003972}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pmed.1003972}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}