Approved Research

Sex-specific genetic effects on blood pressure traits

Lay summary

Scientific rationale: High blood pressure is the leading preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as heart attack and all-cause mortality worldwide. It is known that it is partly genetically determined, and hundreds of genetic variants are known to play a role to determine blood pressure. Importantly, it is known that high blood pressure is differently frequent between males and females so that it can be assumed that the genetic effects on blood pressure also differ between the sexes.

Aims: The aim of the proposed project therefore is to systematically analyze genetic effects on blood pressure that are specific to one sex or act differently between males and females. To maximally use the available data of the UK biobank, different statistical methods will be used. For confirmation of the results, data from German cohorts of the German Center for Cardiovascular Research is available.

Project duration: 12 months

Public health impact: If genetic variants are found that have stronger effects on blood pressure in one sex, this information can be incorporated to construct sex-specific genetic risk scores that will allow more precise prediction of high blood pressure for individual patients.