title: Genetic epidemiological study of blood pressure in a sedentary rural agricultural population of West Bengal, India.
abstract: To study the genetic epidemiology of blood pressure (BP), data on 78 families were collected from a sedentary agricultural population of eastern India. The general levels of both systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures are found to be low (mean SBP = 106.41 mm Hg; mean DBP = 63.94 mm Hg). Trends of blood pressures with age are similar to those reported earlier (e.g., in the Framingham study). Environmental variables--e.g., occupation and tobacco use--do not have any direct significant effect on blood pressure variability in this population. Path analysis of family data shows a highly significant familial aggregation and yields a genetic heritability (maximum) estimate of 0.3 for both SBP and DBP. Sib-sib and mother-child correlation estimates are, respectively, 0.3 and 0.25. Father-child correlation estimates are 0.13 for SBP and near zero for DBP. A pseudopolygenic model yields the best fit to the data on SBP, while for DBP a proper resolution of various models considered could not be obtained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Majumder
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors