title: Heritability and other determinants of left ventricular diastolic function in the family-based population study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding to what extent genetic factors influence diastolic Doppler indexes is an important issue in view of the relation of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction with outcome. We, therefore, investigated the heritability of left ventricular diastolic traits and the composite diastolic score in nuclear families recruited from the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a random sample of 316 nuclear families (452 parents and 600 offspring, mean age, 58.5 and 33.3 years), we measured transmitral early and late diastolic velocities (E and A) by pulsed wave Doppler, and mitral annular velocities (e' and a') by tissue Doppler. Using principal component analysis, we summarized seven Doppler indexes - namely, E, A, e' and a' velocities, and their ratios - into a single diastolic score. To calculate the heritability of diastolic indexes, we used variance decomposition in nuclear families and offspring as implemented in SOLAR and SAS, and the regression slope of offspring on mid-parent residual values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In variance decomposition analyses in nuclear families, the abovementioned traits with adjustment for covariables had moderate heritability ranging from 0.27 to 0.43 (P < 0.0001 for all). The parent-offspring concordances of all diastolic indexes were significant and ranged from 0.17 for A (P = 0.009) to 0.42 for e' (P < 0.0001). In nuclear families and offspring, the heritability estimates of the composite diastolic score were 0.42 and 0.64, respectively (P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrated moderate heritability of various indexes reflecting left ventricular diastolic function in nuclear families. The observation highlights the necessity of further research into the genes that affect left ventricular diastolic function.
authors.affiliation: aThe First Department of Cardiology, Interventional Electrocardiology and Hypertension, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland bResearch Unit Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, KU Leuven Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium cHypertension Division, Department of Internal Medicine, University Clinical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia dThe Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy eHypertension Unit, Department of Hypertension and Diabetology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland fThe Institute of Internal Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation. *Both authors contributed equally to this work.
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kloch-Badelek
authors.forename: Judita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Knez
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tikhonoff
authors.forename: Lutgarde
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thijs
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sakiewicz
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ryabikov
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stolarz-Skrzypek
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malyutina
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casiglia
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Narkiewicz
authors.forename: Danuta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Czarnecka
authors.forename: Kalina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawecka-Jaszcz
authors.forename: Jan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Staessen
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuznetsova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003971:Diastole / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000502:physiology; D009679:Nuclear Family; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology