# Polygenic Risk Moderates the Impact of Greenness on Cardiovascular Health among HCHS/SOL Hispanic/Latinos

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $56,979

## Abstract

Polygenic Risk Moderates the Impact of Greenness on Cardiovascular Health among HCHS/SOL
Hispanic/Latinos
ABSTRACT
Hispanics/Latinos, the largest U.S. minority group, are at relatively high risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) which
is comprised of multiple cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors including obesity, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, and high blood glucose. Neighborhood greenness (vegetative presence) is a novel and understudied
protective factor for CVD and MetS, with emerging evidence suggesting that reductions in CVD and MetS could
be achieved by optimizing environmental greenness. However, a complete understanding of “how” and “for
whom” greenness provides cardiovascular health benefits has not been fully elucidated, with recent work now
showing that environment and lifestyle exposure can interact with genetic susceptibility to CVD. However, no
study to date has examined whether genetics moderates the relationship of environmental greenness exposure
to CVD or MetS. The supplement therefore proposes to examine: (1) whether genetics moderates the
relationship of greenness to cardiovascular health; (2) whether those participants with the greatest genetic risk
for CVD show the greatest benefit of high greenness exposures when compared to those participants with lower
genetic risk for CVD; and (3) which specific genetic variants may be contributing most to the moderating effects
of genetics on cardiovascular health.
Building on the parent study (R01-HL-148880), this proposed supplemental study will be the first to investigative
whether a polygenic risk score (PRS) indicating a higher risk of CVD, moderates the effect of greenness on
cardiovascular health. We will do so by simultaneously investigating the effects of the PRS and Greenness, and
their interaction, on cardiovascular health using conditional logistic regression models as has been previously
used to model the interaction of genetic risk scores and lifestyle factors on cardiovascular health in the Hispanic
Community Health Study / Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) cohort. Therefore, the primary aim of the proposed
supplement is to examine whether a polygenic risk score (PRS) indicating a higher risk of CVD, moderates the
effect of greenness on cardiovascular health. We hypothesize that, when compared to participants in the lowest
two tertiles of polygenic risk score (PRS) for cardiovascular outcomes, those participants in the highest tertile of
PRS (i.e., showing the highest risk for CVD) will show a greater benefit of high greenness exposures on
cardiovascular health, the latter measured via blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid profile. Finally, a planned
secondary analysis will seek to identify the specific genetic variants contributing to the moderating effects of PRS
on the relationships of greenness to cardiovascular health. Identifying these genetic variants may help explain
the mechanism underlying the greenness effect on cardiovascular health. Findings from this ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10517620
- **Project number:** 3R01HL148880-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Scott Charles Brown
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $56,979
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10517620

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10517620, Polygenic Risk Moderates the Impact of Greenness on Cardiovascular Health among HCHS/SOL Hispanic/Latinos (3R01HL148880-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10517620. Licensed CC0.

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