How to best construct a PRS for a study in a Hispanic/Latino population is still an open question. Should one use only the information published in a large, primarily EA study? Or, can we use results from a smaller, non-EA study? In particular, will incorporating information from these lower-powered (smaller sample size) non-EA GWAS in fact improve PRS construction, or will it instead introduce harmful variability? Here, we take a systematic, empirical approach to constructing PRSs for Hispanics/Latinos, based on published GWASs results from large EA population studies and medium-sized studies of Hispanics/Latinos. Specifically, we use GWAS findings from the HCHS/SOL to construct and evaluate PRSs in an independent study of Hispanic/Latina women from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). We support our results with simulations mimicking potential genetic architecture within a single, trait-associated genomic region.
