A study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the extent to which a healthy lifestyle can offset the increased genetic risk of coronary artery disease.
Researchers quantified genetic risk for coronary artery disease across four studies involving 55,685 participants. They then determined whether the participants adhered to a healthy lifestyle by using a scoring system, which included these four factors:
• No current smoking
• No obesity
• Regular physical activity
• A healthy diet
Here are four insights:
1. The relative risk of incident coronary events was 91 percent higher among participants with a high genetic risk than among those with a low genetic risk.
2. A favorable lifestyle (defined as at least three of the four healthy lifestyle factors) was associated with a substantially lower risk of coronary events than an unfavorable lifestyle, regardless of the genetic risk category.
3. Among participants with a high genetic risk, a favorable lifestyle was associated with a 46 percent lower relative risk of coronary events than those with an unfavorable lifestyle.
4. Thus, genetic and lifestyle factors were independently associated with susceptibility to coronary artery disease.