Genetic risk, incident stroke, and the benefits of adhering to a healthy lifestyle: cohort study of 306 473 UK Biobank participants.
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Authors
Larsson, Susanna C
Malik, Rainer
Rannikmäe, Kristiina
MEGASTROKE consortium
International Stroke Genetics Consortium
Sudlow, Cathie L
Dichgans, Martin
Publication Date
2018-10-24Journal Title
BMJ
ISSN
0959-8146
Publisher
BMJ
Volume
363
Pages
k4168
Language
eng
Type
Article
Physical Medium
Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Jacobs, L., Larsson, S. C., Malik, R., Rannikmäe, K., MEGASTROKE consortium, International Stroke Genetics Consortium, Sudlow, C. L., et al. (2018). Genetic risk, incident stroke, and the benefits of adhering to a healthy lifestyle: cohort study of 306 473 UK Biobank participants.. BMJ, 363 k4168. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4168
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the associations of a polygenic risk score and healthy lifestyle with incident stroke. DESIGN: Prospective population based cohort study. SETTING: UK Biobank Study, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 306 473 men and women, aged 40-73 years, recruited between 2006 and 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Hazard ratios for a first stroke, estimated using Cox regression. A polygenic risk score of 90 single nucleotide polymorphisms previously associated with stroke was constructed at P<1×10-5 to test for an association with incident stroke. Adherence to a healthy lifestyle was determined on the basis of four factors: non-smoker, healthy diet, body mass index <30 kg/m2, and regular physical exercise. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 7.1 years (2 138 443 person years), 2077 incident strokes (1541 ischaemic stroke, 287 intracerebral haemorrhage, and 249 subarachnoid haemorrhage) were ascertained. The risk of incident stroke was 35% higher among those at high genetic risk (top third of polygenic score) compared with those at low genetic risk (bottom third): hazard ratio 1.35 (95% confidence interval 1.21 to 1.50), P=3.9×10-8. Unfavourable lifestyle (0 or 1 healthy lifestyle factors) was associated with a 66% increased risk of stroke compared with a favourable lifestyle (3 or 4 healthy lifestyle factors): 1.66 (1.45 to 1.89), P=1.19×10-13. The association with lifestyle was independent of genetic risk stratums. CONCLUSION: In this cohort study, genetic and lifestyle factors were independently associated with incident stroke. These results emphasise the benefit of entire populations adhering to a healthy lifestyle, independent of genetic risk.
Keywords
MEGASTROKE consortium, International Stroke Genetics Consortium, Humans, Cerebral Hemorrhage, Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Myocardial Infarction, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Exercise, Incidence, Risk Factors, Prospective Studies, Patient Compliance, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Adult, Aged, Middle Aged, Female, Male, Stroke, United Kingdom, Healthy Lifestyle
Sponsorship
British Heart Foundation (RG/16/4/32218)
British Heart Foundation (FS/15/61/31626)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4168
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/286258
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