Cardiac blood flow is a critical determinant of human health. However, the definition of its genetic architecture is limited by the technical challenge of capturing dynamic flow volumes from cardiac imaging at scale. We present DeepFlow, a deep-learning system to extract cardiac flow and volumes from phase-contrast cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Physical activity is associated with decreased incidence of the chronic diseases associated with aging. We previously demonstrated that digital interventions delivered through a smartphone app can increase short-term physical activity.
Methods And Results: We offered enrolment to community-living iPhone-using adults aged ≥18 years in the USA, UK, and Hong Kong who downloaded the MyHeart Counts app.
Cardiometabolic diseases contribute more to global morbidity and mortality than any other group of disorders. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs), the weighted summation of individually small-effect genetic variants, represent an advance in our ability to predict the development and complications of cardiometabolic diseases. This article reviews the evidence supporting the use of PRS in seven common cardiometabolic diseases: coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, hypertension, heart failure and cardiomyopathies, obesity, atrial fibrillation (AF), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCardiovascular disease is the leading contributor to years lost due to disability or premature death among adults. Current efforts focus on risk prediction and risk factor mitigation' which have been recognized for the past half-century. However, despite advances, risk prediction remains imprecise with persistently high rates of incident cardiovascular disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic predisposition and unhealthy lifestyle are risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We investigated whether the genetic risk of NAFLD is modified by physical activity, muscular fitness, and/or adiposity. In up to 242,524 UK Biobank participants without excessive alcohol intake or known liver disease, we examined cross-sectional interactions and joint associations of physical activity, muscular fitness, body mass index (BMI), and a genetic risk score (GRS) with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and the proxy definition for suspected NAFLD of ALT levels > 30 U/L in women and >40 U/L in men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the establishment of large biobanks, discovery of single nucleotide variants (SNVs, also known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNVs)) associated with various phenotypes has accelerated. An open question is whether genome-wide significant SNVs identified in earlier genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are replicated in later GWAS conducted in biobanks. To address this, we examined a publicly available GWAS database and identified two, independent GWAS on the same phenotype (an earlier, "discovery" GWAS and a later, "replication" GWAS done in the UK biobank).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a five-fold increased risk of ischemic stroke. A portion of this risk is heritable; however, current risk stratification tools (CHADS-VASc) do not include family history or genetic risk. We hypothesized that we could improve ischemic stroke prediction in patients with AF by incorporating polygenic risk scores (PRS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolygenic risk scores (PRSs), which often aggregate results from genome-wide association studies, can bridge the gap between initial discovery efforts and clinical applications for the estimation of disease risk using genetics. However, there is notable heterogeneity in the application and reporting of these risk scores, which hinders the translation of PRSs into clinical care. Here, in a collaboration between the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Complex Disease Working Group and the Polygenic Score (PGS) Catalog, we present the Polygenic Risk Score Reporting Standards (PRS-RS), in which we update the Genetic Risk Prediction Studies (GRIPS) Statement to reflect the present state of the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association pooled cohort equations tool (ASCVD-PCE) is currently recommended to assess 10-year risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). ASCVD-PCE does not currently include genetic risk factors. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been shown to offer a powerful new approach to measuring genetic risk for common diseases, including ASCVD, and to enhance risk prediction when combined with ASCVD-PCE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is considerable interest in whether genetic data can be used to improve standard cardiovascular disease risk calculators, as the latter are routinely used in clinical practice to manage preventative treatment.
Methods: Using the UK Biobank resource, we developed our own polygenic risk score for coronary artery disease (CAD). We used an additional 60 000 UK Biobank individuals to develop an integrated risk tool (IRT) that combined our polygenic risk score with established risk tools (either the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology pooled cohort equations [PCE] or UK QRISK3), and we tested our IRT in an additional, independent set of 186 451 UK Biobank individuals.
Background: Smartphone apps might enable interventions to increase physical activity, but few randomised trials testing this hypothesis have been done. The MyHeart Counts Cardiovascular Health Study is a longitudinal smartphone-based study with the aim of elucidating the determinants of cardiovascular health. We aimed to investigate the effect of four different physical activity coaching interventions on daily step count in a substudy of the MyHeart Counts Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Evid Based Med
December 2021
: Never before have clinical trials drawn as much public attention as those testing interventions for COVID-19. We aimed to describe the worldwide COVID-19 clinical research response and its evolution over the first 100 days of the pandemic. Descriptive analysis of planned, ongoing or completed trials by April 9, 2020 testing any intervention to treat or prevent COVID-19, systematically identified in trial registries, preprint servers, and literature databases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects more than 6 million people in the United States; however, much AF remains undiagnosed. Given that more than 265 million people in the United States own smartphones (>80% of the population), smartphone applications have been proposed for detecting AF, but the accuracy of these applications remains unclear.
Objective: To determine the accuracy of smartphone camera applications that diagnose AF.
BMJ Evid Based Med
February 2021
BMJ Evid Based Med
October 2020
BMJ Evid Based Med
August 2019
Background: The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is currently subject to unprecedented financial strain. The identification of unnecessary healthcare resource use has been suggested to reduce spending. However, there is little very research quantifying wasteful test use, despite the £3 billion annual expenditure.
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