Abstract
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the number cause of death in the world. It is estimated that 50% of Americans will experience a cardiac event in their lifetime. The underlying pathology leading to coronary artery disease and its clinical manifestations, such as angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden death is coronary atherosclerosis. While the disease is not usually manifested clinically until the sixth or seventh decade, the underlying pathology is initiated as early as the second or third decade. Numerous randomized clinical trials have shown cardiac morbidity and mortality can be prevented by lowering the risk of known conventional risk factors for CAD such as decreasing plasma cholesterol or controlling hypertension. Secondary prevention of these conventional risk factors has been very effective; however, primary prevention has been shown to be even more effective. A major barrier to primary prevention is the lack of markers to detect among young asymptomatic individuals those at risk for CAD. The conventional risk factors are often not present until the sixth or seventh decade which could be late for primary prevention. Genetic predisposition accounts for 50% of the risk for CAD. Recently over 200 genetic risk variants predisposing to CAD have been discovered. Based on these variants, one can express the genetic risk for CAD in a single number referred to as the Polygenic Risk Score (PRS). The PRS has been evaluated in over one million individuals and shown that those with high genetic risk have the highest incidence of heart disease and can be reduced by 40-50%, utilizing drugs (statins and PCSK9 inhibitors) or lifestyle changes (favorable diet and increased exercise). The genetic risk for CAD is determined at conception and thus can be predicted anytime from birth onward. The PRS detection of young asymptomatic individuals based on the PRS enables one to implement early primary prevention. Adoption of the PRS to risk stratify for CAD could represent a paradigm shift in the prevention of this pandemic disease.