Polygenic Risk Scores And Mediating Risk Factors

Polygenic Risk Scores And Mediating Risk Factors

Lay summary

The medical community will eventually use Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS's) to help predict an individual's risk of various diseases. However, such risk scores will not be used in isolation. A combination of PRSs and other variables will be input into a prediction algorithm. For example, physicians might try to predict the risk of diabetes based on an individual's BMI, glucose levels, and a PRS. However, the standard approach for developing PRSs does not account for these other variables. Therefore, we would like to propose new ways to calculate PRSs that, when combined with known risk factors, will lead to better predictive models. We therefore expect to advance and accelerate the use of PRSs in clinical practice.