Height, social position, and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

Karri Silventoinen; Hannu  Lahtinen; George Davey Smith; Tim T Morris; Pekka Martikainen

doi:10.1136/jech-2022-219907

Height, social position, and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

Karri Silventoinen^*, Hannu Lahtinen, George Davey Smith, Tim T Morris, Pekka Martikainen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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Abstract

Background The associations between height, socioeconomic position (SEP) and coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence are well established, but the contribution of genetic factors to these associations is still poorly understood. We used a polygenic score (PGS) for height to shed light on these associations.

Methods Finnish population-based health surveys in 1992–2011 (response rates 65–93%) were linked to population registers providing information on SEP and CHD incidence up to 2019. The participants (N=29 996; 54% women) were aged 25–75 at baseline, and there were 1767 CHD incident cases (32% in women) during 472 973 person years of follow-up. PGS-height was calculated based on 33 938 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and residual height was defined as the residual of height after adjusting for PGS-height in a linear regression model. HRs of CHD incidence were calculated using Cox regression.

Results PGS-height and residual height showed clear gradients for education, social class and income, with a larger association for residual height. Residual height also showed larger associations with CHD incidence (HRs per 1 SD 0.94 in men and 0.87 in women) than PGS-height (HRs per 1 SD 0.99 and 0.97, respectively). Only a small proportion of the associations between SEP and CHD incidence was statistically explained by the height indicators (6% or less).

Conclusions Residual height associations with SEP and CHD incidence were larger than for PGS-height. This supports the role of material and social living conditions in childhood as contributing factors to the association of height with both SEP and CHD risk.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	384-390
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Volume	77
Issue number	6
Early online date	24 Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2022-219907
Publication status	Published - 10 May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Academy of Finland grant (#345219) for Hannu Lahtinen. Pekka Martikainen was supported by the Academy of Finland (#308247, # 345219), the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101019329) and the Max Planck—University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health. George Davey Smith and Tim Morris work within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00011/1).

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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Bristol Population Health Science Institute

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10.1136/jech-2022-219907

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This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via BMJ Publishing Group at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2022-219907. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
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IEU: MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit Quinquennial renewal
Gaunt, L. F. (Principal Investigator) & Davey Smith, G. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/18 → 31/03/23
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Height, social position, and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors",

abstract = "Background The associations between height, socioeconomic position (SEP) and coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence are well established, but the contribution of genetic factors to these associations is still poorly understood. We used a polygenic score (PGS) for height to shed light on these associations.Methods Finnish population-based health surveys in 1992–2011 (response rates 65–93%) were linked to population registers providing information on SEP and CHD incidence up to 2019. The participants (N=29 996; 54% women) were aged 25–75 at baseline, and there were 1767 CHD incident cases (32% in women) during 472 973 person years of follow-up. PGS-height was calculated based on 33 938 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and residual height was defined as the residual of height after adjusting for PGS-height in a linear regression model. HRs of CHD incidence were calculated using Cox regression.Results PGS-height and residual height showed clear gradients for education, social class and income, with a larger association for residual height. Residual height also showed larger associations with CHD incidence (HRs per 1 SD 0.94 in men and 0.87 in women) than PGS-height (HRs per 1 SD 0.99 and 0.97, respectively). Only a small proportion of the associations between SEP and CHD incidence was statistically explained by the height indicators (6% or less).Conclusions Residual height associations with SEP and CHD incidence were larger than for PGS-height. This supports the role of material and social living conditions in childhood as contributing factors to the association of height with both SEP and CHD risk.",

author = "Karri Silventoinen and Hannu Lahtinen and {Davey Smith}, George and Morris, {Tim T} and Pekka Martikainen",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Academy of Finland grant (#345219) for Hannu Lahtinen. Pekka Martikainen was supported by the Academy of Finland (#308247, # 345219), the European Research Council under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101019329) and the Max Planck—University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health. George Davey Smith and Tim Morris work within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00011/1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1136/jech-2022-219907",

language = "English",

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pages = "384--390",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Height, social position, and coronary heart disease incidence

T2 - the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

AU - Silventoinen, Karri

AU - Lahtinen, Hannu

AU - Davey Smith, George

AU - Morris, Tim T

AU - Martikainen, Pekka

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Academy of Finland grant (#345219) for Hannu Lahtinen. Pekka Martikainen was supported by the Academy of Finland (#308247, # 345219), the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101019329) and the Max Planck—University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health. George Davey Smith and Tim Morris work within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, which is supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00011/1). Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

PY - 2023/5/10

Y1 - 2023/5/10

N2 - Background The associations between height, socioeconomic position (SEP) and coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence are well established, but the contribution of genetic factors to these associations is still poorly understood. We used a polygenic score (PGS) for height to shed light on these associations.Methods Finnish population-based health surveys in 1992–2011 (response rates 65–93%) were linked to population registers providing information on SEP and CHD incidence up to 2019. The participants (N=29 996; 54% women) were aged 25–75 at baseline, and there were 1767 CHD incident cases (32% in women) during 472 973 person years of follow-up. PGS-height was calculated based on 33 938 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and residual height was defined as the residual of height after adjusting for PGS-height in a linear regression model. HRs of CHD incidence were calculated using Cox regression.Results PGS-height and residual height showed clear gradients for education, social class and income, with a larger association for residual height. Residual height also showed larger associations with CHD incidence (HRs per 1 SD 0.94 in men and 0.87 in women) than PGS-height (HRs per 1 SD 0.99 and 0.97, respectively). Only a small proportion of the associations between SEP and CHD incidence was statistically explained by the height indicators (6% or less).Conclusions Residual height associations with SEP and CHD incidence were larger than for PGS-height. This supports the role of material and social living conditions in childhood as contributing factors to the association of height with both SEP and CHD risk.

AB - Background The associations between height, socioeconomic position (SEP) and coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence are well established, but the contribution of genetic factors to these associations is still poorly understood. We used a polygenic score (PGS) for height to shed light on these associations.Methods Finnish population-based health surveys in 1992–2011 (response rates 65–93%) were linked to population registers providing information on SEP and CHD incidence up to 2019. The participants (N=29 996; 54% women) were aged 25–75 at baseline, and there were 1767 CHD incident cases (32% in women) during 472 973 person years of follow-up. PGS-height was calculated based on 33 938 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and residual height was defined as the residual of height after adjusting for PGS-height in a linear regression model. HRs of CHD incidence were calculated using Cox regression.Results PGS-height and residual height showed clear gradients for education, social class and income, with a larger association for residual height. Residual height also showed larger associations with CHD incidence (HRs per 1 SD 0.94 in men and 0.87 in women) than PGS-height (HRs per 1 SD 0.99 and 0.97, respectively). Only a small proportion of the associations between SEP and CHD incidence was statistically explained by the height indicators (6% or less).Conclusions Residual height associations with SEP and CHD incidence were larger than for PGS-height. This supports the role of material and social living conditions in childhood as contributing factors to the association of height with both SEP and CHD risk.

U2 - 10.1136/jech-2022-219907

DO - 10.1136/jech-2022-219907

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 36963814

SN - 0143-005X

VL - 77

SP - 384

EP - 390

JO - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

IS - 6

ER -

Height, social position, and coronary heart disease incidence: the contribution of genetic and environmental factors

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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IEU: MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit Quinquennial renewal

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