title: Association of the human Y chromosome with high blood pressure in the general population.
abstract: Genetic variation in the Y chromosome has significant effects on male blood pressure in experimental animals, but the effects in humans are unknown. We examined the relationship between blood pressure and a polymorphic HINdIII restriction site in the nonrecombining region of the Y chromosome in 409 randomly selected men from the general population. Carefully standardized measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressures were made. The HINdIII restriction site was significantly more common (43.2%) in men in the lowest decile of the diastolic blood pressure distribution than men in the highest decile (15.9%, P=0.007). No significant difference in genotype frequency was observed between the lowest and highest deciles for systolic pressure (32.4% versus 27.8%, P=0.66). In the entire group, men with the HIN:dIII restriction site had significantly lower diastolic blood pressures (81.2 mm Hg, SD:8.3, versus 83.2 mm Hg, SD:8.7, P=0.03). No significant differences in systolic blood pressure (130.6 mm Hg, SD:14.7, versus 128.3 mm Hg, SD:13.6) were observed in relation to genotypes. Our results indicate that genetic variation in the human Y chromosome is associated with high blood pressure and contributes significantly to the quantitative variation of male diastolic blood pressure in the general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stebbing
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Harrap
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003971:Diastole / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*