Identification of individuals at higher risk of airway obstruction among workers in swine operations using polygenic risk scores

Prior studies have investigated individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as risk factors for the development of lung disease in swine operation workers. The aim of this study was to determine the collective effects of multiple SNPs and a polygenic risk score (PRS) in swine operation workers and identify workers at a higher risk of airway disease. This study included 374 full-time swine operation workers and 411 non-farming rural residents. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) with 10-fold cross-validation was used to identify SNPs, which were used to calculate a PRS score for airway obstruction. Decision tree was applied to dichotomize the PRS score into two genetic susceptible groups (high vs. low). Logistic regression was employed to examine the association between dichotomous PRS score and airway obstruction. All workers were divided into two PRS genetic susceptible groups (high vs. low) by a cutoff value of 4.196. Logistic regression showed that workers in the high PRS group were 5.5-fold more likely to be associated with airway obstruction compared to workers in the low PRS group after controlling for potential confounders. A PRS score was identified as a useful tool in identifying workers at increased risk of airway obstruction in swine operations.