Effects of Polygenic Risk Scores and Physical Activity on Blood Pressure Trajectories in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood

BACKGROUND: Understanding the effects of genetics and lifestyle habits such as physical activity on blood pressure (BP) trajectories at an early age helps to improve understanding of the pathogenesis of hypertension over the life course. METHODS: BP was assessed twice (at baseline and follow-up) in prepuberty (n=1063; age 5-6 years; median follow-up, 4.72 years), puberty (n=2494; age 8-14 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years), and postpuberty (n=2549; age 15-20 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years). We calculated polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for BP based on the largest BP genome-wide association study and examined the associations of PRSs with BP trajectories in the 3 age epochs, using linear mixed models. RESULTS: One SD of PRSs was positively associated with 1.70, 1.65, and 2.92 mm Hg SBP level and 1.68, 0.85, and 1.18 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure (DBP) level at ages 5, 8, and 15 years, respectively. There was evidence of associations between PRSs and rates of change in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. During puberty, individuals in the highest quartile of systolic blood pressure (SBP)-PRS showed a 0.32 (95% CI, 0.02-0.63) mm Hg greater increase in SBP per year compared with those in the lowest quartile, while in postpuberty, those in the highest quartile of the DBP-PRS exhibited a 0.24 (95% CI, 0.02-0.45) mm Hg/y greater increase in DBP. Children who were physically active had, on average, 1.90 (95% CI, -3.77 to -0.03) mm Hg lower initial SBP than inactive children in puberty. No evidence was found for interactions of physical activity with PRS on BP levels or changes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that genetic influences on BP are evident as early as age 5 and extend to dynamic changes in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. Higher physical activity may reduce SBP levels in puberty independent of genetic susceptibility.

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Journal
Circulation Genomic and Precision Medicine
Published
2026-09-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1161/circgen.125.004307
Primary Topic
Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
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article
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article

Effects of Polygenic Risk Scores and Physical Activity on Blood Pressure Trajectories in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood

Najaf Amin, Bram Peter Prins, Simon Thom, Vilmantas Giedraitis et al.
Circulation Genomic and Precision Medicine
Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
article

Effects of Polygenic Risk Scores and Physical Activity on Blood Pressure Trajectories in Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood

Najaf Amin, Bram Peter Prins, Simon Thom, Vilmantas Giedraitis, Helen R. Warren, Joris Deelen, Harold Snieder, Peter Almgren, Ilaria Gandin, Ian J. Deary, Marina Ciullo, Eva Corpeleijn, Stefan Enroth, Gerton A. Lunter, Georg Ehret, Tineka Blake, Massimiliano Cocca, Chris H. L. Thio, Paolo Gasparini, Cristina Menni, Marco Brumat, Caterina Barbieri, Heather Jane Cordell, Ganesh Chauhan, Alan J. Gow, Nabi Shah, Jing-Hua Zhao, Praveen Surendran, Tian Xie, Marloes Cardol, Kristin L. Ayers, Cumhur Yusuf Demirkale, Alice Stanton, Giorgia Girotto, Francis Collins, Niek Verweij, Niki Dimou, Lili Milani, Teresa Ferreira, Christopher Oldmeadow, Fabiola Del Greco M, Thibaud Boutin, Vilmundur Gudnason, He Gao, John Connell, Jun Ding, Anuj Goel, Alex SF Doney, Dan E Arking, Ulf Gyllensten, Martin H de Borst, Raymond Noordam, Wei-Yu Lin, Georgios Ntritsos, Murielle Bochud, Renée de Mutsert, Anders Hamsten, Chiara Batini, Tamara B Harris, Anne U Jackson, Michael Boehnke, Eco J de Geus, Sébastien Thériault, Muralidharan Sargurupremraj, Franco Giulianini, Neil R Poulter, Shili Luo, Massimo Mangino, Yong Qian, Xiuqing Guo, Ruifang Li-Gao, A Mesut Erzurumluoglu, Mattias Frånberg, Oscar H Franco, Gonçalo Abecasis, Evangelos Evangelou, Erwin P Bottinger, John C Chambers, Denis C Shields, Tonu Esko, Stéphanie Debette, Philippe Amouyel, Elizabeth G Holliday, Martin Farrall, Aravinda Chakravarti, Marcus Dörr, Gail Davies, Joshua C Bis, Andrew D Morris, Dorret I Boomsma, Christian Gieger, Eric Boerwinkle, Guillaume Paré, Sara M Willems, Archie Campbell, Peter S Braund, Jian’an Luan, Harry Campbell, Reedik Mägi, Roberto Elosua
article en

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Understanding the effects of genetics and lifestyle habits such as physical activity on blood pressure (BP) trajectories at an early age helps to improve understanding of the pathogenesis of hypertension over the life course. METHODS: BP was assessed twice (at baseline and follow-up) in prepuberty (n=1063; age 5-6 years; median follow-up, 4.72 years), puberty (n=2494; age 8-14 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years), and postpuberty (n=2549; age 15-20 years; median follow-up, 3.00 years). We calculated polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for BP based on the largest BP genome-wide association study and examined the associations of PRSs with BP trajectories in the 3 age epochs, using linear mixed models. RESULTS: One SD of PRSs was positively associated with 1.70, 1.65, and 2.92 mm Hg SBP level and 1.68, 0.85, and 1.18 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure (DBP) level at ages 5, 8, and 15 years, respectively. There was evidence of associations between PRSs and rates of change in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. During puberty, individuals in the highest quartile of systolic blood pressure (SBP)-PRS showed a 0.32 (95% CI, 0.02-0.63) mm Hg greater increase in SBP per year compared with those in the lowest quartile, while in postpuberty, those in the highest quartile of the DBP-PRS exhibited a 0.24 (95% CI, 0.02-0.45) mm Hg/y greater increase in DBP. Children who were physically active had, on average, 1.90 (95% CI, -3.77 to -0.03) mm Hg lower initial SBP than inactive children in puberty. No evidence was found for interactions of physical activity with PRS on BP levels or changes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that genetic influences on BP are evident as early as age 5 and extend to dynamic changes in SBP during puberty and DBP during postpuberty. Higher physical activity may reduce SBP levels in puberty independent of genetic susceptibility.

Circulation Genomic and Precision Medicine
University Medical Center Groningen (NL), Guangzhou Experimental Station (CN), Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
DOISourceOpenAlex
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