Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI; Environmental factors may play a larger role in disease risk than previously thought, overshadowing genetic contributions a study by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine reveals.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the research shows that lifestyle and environmental factors, such as air pollution, can significantly influence disease risk, offering more opportunities for mitigation.
“We’re trying to disentangle how much genetics and how much the environment influences the development of disease,” said Bibo Jiang, assistant professor of public health sciences.
The team used a novel spatial mixed linear effect (SMILE) model, combining genetics and geolocation data, to analyse disease risks.
ajiang Liu, co-senior author, emphasised the importance of separating environmental influences from genetic factors: “If we can tease apart these shared environments, what’s remaining could more accurately reflect genetic heritability of disease.” Using data from IBM MarketScan and environmental data, the researchers re-evaluated the genetic contributions to various diseases.
