Association between genetically predicted leisure and social activities and cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes

Soyeon Kim; Hyunwoong Ko; Woojae Myung; Joohyun Yoon; Kiwon Kim; Sang-Hyuk Jung; Injeong Shim; Soojin Cha; Beomsu Kim; Jae Myeong Kang; Woong-Yang Park; Pradeep Natarajan; Ron Do; Hong-Hee Won

doi:10.1038/s44161-024-00581-2

Association between genetically predicted leisure and social activities and cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes

Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2025 Jan 2. doi: 10.1038/s44161-024-00581-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Soyeon Kim^#^{1

2

3}, Hyunwoong Ko^#¹, Woojae Myung^{4

5}, Joohyun Yoon², Kiwon Kim⁶, Sang-Hyuk Jung¹, Injeong Shim¹, Soojin Cha¹, Beomsu Kim¹, Jae Myeong Kang⁷, Woong-Yang Park⁸, Pradeep Natarajan^{9

10

11}, Ron Do^{12

13}, Hong-Hee Won^{14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea.
³ Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁴ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea. [email protected].
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. [email protected].
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Gil Medical Center, Gachon University, Incheon, South Korea.
⁸ Samsung Genome Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁹ Medical and Population Genetics and Cardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
¹³ Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. [email protected].
¹⁵ Samsung Genome Institute, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. [email protected].

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39747453
DOI: 10.1038/s44161-024-00581-2

Abstract

Participation in leisure and social activities (LSA) is associated with better health outcomes and lower mortality^1-3. Previous observational studies demonstrated a relationship between engagement in LSA and both mental and physical health^4,5. Although several studies⁶ examined the association between LSA and health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, their possible causal relationship has not been studied. In this study, we investigated the causal relationship between LSA and various health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, using data from genome-wide association study summary statistics (sample size = 63,926-1,557,411) and a Mendelian randomization approach. Genetically predicted LSA were associated with a reduced risk of several health outcomes, including coronary artery disease and coronary atherosclerosis. Mediation analysis indicated that these effects were partly mediated by modifiable risk factors, such as body mass index, smoking and lipid levels. These findings highlight the importance of LSA in disease prevention and health promotion.

Abstract

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