Deletion allele of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene increases risk of essential hypertension in Japanese men : the Suita Study.
BACKGROUND
The Framingham Study recently revealed that the homozygous deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene (ACE DD) is associated with increased risk for essential hypertension in a male-specific manner. However, this association has not been confirmed in races other than whites.


RESULTS
Using a large number of Japanese subjects (n=5014) that were randomly selected from the general population (the Suita Study), we examined the association between ACE DD and hypertension. The frequency of DD (17.1%) in hypertensive men was significantly higher (P<0.0015) than that (11.8%) in other mildly hypertensive or normotensive men, and the estimated odds prevalence for hypertension (DD vs II) was 1.75 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.53). In contrast, no significant association was confirmed in women (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.72).


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the lower frequency of the DD genotype in Japanese than in whites, the ACE gene polymorphism was associated with increased risk for hypertension, suggesting that this polymorphism is a mild but certain genetic risk factor for essential hypertension in men.
Higaki
J
J
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Baba
S
S
Katsuya
T
T
Sato
N
N
Ishikawa
K
K
Mannami
T
T
Ogata
J
J
Ogihara
T
T
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000235:genetics*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011897:Random Allocation; D012737:Sex Factors
D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A