Physical activity reduces the effect of adiposity genetic liability on hypertension risk in the UK Biobank cohort

Background and PurposeHypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is modulated by genetic variants. This study aimed to assess the effect of gene and environmental interaction focusing on adiposity genetic liability and physical activity on hypertension among European and African ancestry individuals within the UK Biobank (UKB). MethodsParticipants were 230,115 individuals of European ancestry and 3,239 individuals of African ancestry from UKB. Genetic liability for adiposity were estimated using previously published data including the list of genetic variants and effect sizes for body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference (WC) using Plink software. The outcome was defined as stage 2 hypertension (systolic blood pressure [&ge;] 140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure [&ge;] 90 mmHg, or the use of anti-hypertensive medications). The association between adiposity genetic liability and the outcome was assessed across categories of self-reported physical activity using logistic regression. ResultsAmong European ancestry participants, there was up to a 20% hypertension risk difference between participants with a combination of high genetic liability and low physical activity compared with participants with a combination of low genetic liability and high physical activity (P <0.001). There was an interaction effect of physical activity on the association between BMI genetic liability and hypertension (P interaction=0.04). There was no evidence of an association between adiposity genetic liability and hypertension in individuals of African ancestry (P > 0.05). ConclusionThis study suggests that engaging in physical activity may reduce the risk of stage 2 hypertension among European ancestry individuals who carry high genetic liability for adiposity. This cannot be inferred for individuals of African ancestry, possibly due to the low African ancestry sample size within the UKB.