# Investigating and improving performance of polygenic scores for cardiometabolic traits in Samoan adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $50,250

## Abstract

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Title: Investigating and improving performance of polygenic scores for cardiometabolic traits in Samoan adults
Project Period: 2024-09-01--2026-08-31
The clinical utility of polygenic scores (PGSs) in individuals of Pacific Islander ancestry is unknown due to a
paucity of Pacific Islanders participating in studies of PGSs. Specifically, the applicability of published polygenic
scores for cardiometabolic disease risk and related biomarkers to clinical practice has not yet been evaluated.
This gap in knowledge may further exacerbate health disparities in this population due to this unknown transfer-
ability of findings from majority populations to individuals of Pacific Island ancestry. Therefore, the primary focus
of this supplement is to provide the first ever examination of existing and development of PGSs of cardiometa-
bolic traits in Pacific Islanders. This will be achieved through two primary aims—first, assessing the portability of
existing PGSs for cardiometabolic health traits in Samoans, and second, to measure change in prediction power,
and thus clinical utility, of PGSs that have been augmented to include Samoan-specific variation. Understanding
the transferability of existing PGSs may shift how PGSs are translated into clinical practice by elucidating how
much trait variation is due to underlying genetic components of cardiometabolic traits that are shared across
populations and how much is context dependent. Clinical use of existing PGSs for individuals with Polynesian
ancestry has the potential to exacerbate the health disparities that these populations already face in cardiomet-
abolic disease prevention and treatment. Thus, this project will improve genomics-related health equity by ex-
amining the portability of PGSs for cardiometabolic traits in a population that is systematically underrepresented
in research and that faces alarmingly high rates of cardiometabolic disease. This project will provide the first ever
characterization of the portability of existing PGSs for Polynesian populations which will inform clinical interpre-
tation of these PGSs among individuals with Polynesian ancestry.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11099434
- **Project number:** 3R01HL133040-06A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Ryan Lee Minster
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $50,250
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11099434

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11099434, Investigating and improving performance of polygenic scores for cardiometabolic traits in Samoan adults (3R01HL133040-06A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11099434. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*