Genetic risk scores: are they important for diabetes management? results from multiple cross-sectional studies

BACKGROUND: Several genetic risk scores (GRS) for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have been published, but not replicated. We aimed to 1) replicate previous findings on the association between GRS on prevalence of T2DM and 2) assess the association between GRS and T2DM management in a sample of community-dwelling people from Switzerland. METHODS: Four waves from a prospective study conducted in Lausanne. Seven GRS related to T2DM were selected, and compared between participants with and without T2DM, and between controlled and uncontrolled participants treated for T2DM. RESULTS: Data from 5426, 4017, 2873 and 2170 participants from the baseline, first, second and third follow-ups, respectively, was used. In all study periods, participants with T2DM scored higher than participants without T2DM in six out of seven GRS. Data from 367, 437, 285 and 207 participants with T2DM was used. In all study periods, approximately half of participants treated for T2DM did not achieve adequate fasting blood glucose or HbA(1)c levels, and no difference between controlled and uncontrolled participants was found for all seven GRS. Power analyses showed that most GRS needed a sample size above 1000 to consider the difference between controlled and uncontrolled participants as statistically significant at p = 0.05. CONCLUSION: In this study, we confirmed the association between most published GRS and diabetes. Conversely, no consistent association between GRS and diabetes control was found. Use of GRS to manage patients with T2DM in clinical practice is not justified. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13098-023-01204-9.