Genetic and environmental influences on factors associated with cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Supplementary key words twins • heritability • genetics • risk factorsCardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States ( 1 ). Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is defi ned as the clustering of factors associated with elevated CVD risk including glucose intolerance, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and central adiposity ( 2 ). Estimated to affect over 34% of American adults ( 1 ), MetS is designated as a secondary target of coronary heart disease risk-reduction therapy after the primary target, LDL cholesterol ( 3 ). "Cardiometabolic syndrome" is a relatively new term that describes the clustering of factors that infl uence CVD and type 2 diabetes risk ( 4 ). Cardiometabolic

Gene by stress genome-wide interaction analysis and path analysis identify EBF1 as a cardiovascular and metabolic risk gene

“…These same risk factors account for over three quarters of ischemic heart disease. 2 These risk factors are influenced by both environmental exposures and genetic background and the heritability of these risk factors can be as high as 77%, 3 making it difficult to clearly separate CVD risk factors into genetic and nongenetic categories. The INTERHEART study has evaluated the effect of both physical and psychosocial factors on the risk of myocardial infarction and has shown that a higher prevalence of psychological stress and other psychosocial factors like depression account for 34% of the population attributable risk for myocardial infarction, independently of physical risk factors.…”

Genome-wide DNA methylation pattern in visceral adipose tissue differentiates insulin-resistant from insulin-sensitive obese subjects

“…10 The interaction between these factors in the disease development can be mediated by epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic markers might explain the link between lifestyle and the risk of disease and have been proposed to be sensitive biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for disease management.…”

Heritability of metabolic syndrome traits in a large population-based sample

“…If closer relatives resemble each other more for metabolic syndrome traits than more distant relatives do, this indicates that familial factors, including genetic factors and familyshared environmental infl uences, are important for these traits. The heritability estimates observed in these studies vary widely, with heritability ranging 24-90% for BMI ( 18,(21)(22)(23)(24), 10-75% for fasting glucose ( 17,20,(22)(23)(24)(25), 20-55% for fasting insulin ( 17,20,22,23,26 ), 0.03-72% for triglycerides ( 17,19,20,(22)(23)(24)(25)27 ), 25-98% for LDLcholesterol ( 17,19,20,22,23,27 ), 30-80% for HDL cholesterol ( 17,19,20,22,24,25,27 ), 30-74% for total cholesterol ( 17,19,20,(22)(23)(24)27 ), 20-71% for SBP ( 14,17,…”