title: Heritability of ambulatory and office blood pressure in the Swiss population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blood pressure (BP) is known to aggregate in families. Yet, heritability estimates are population-specific and no Swiss data have been published so far. We estimated the heritability of ambulatory and office BP in a Swiss population-based sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Swiss Kidney Project on Genes in Hypertension is a population-based family study focusing on BP genetics. Office and ambulatory BP were measured in 1009 individuals from 271 nuclear families. Heritability was estimated for SBP, DBP, and pulse pressure using a maximum likelihood method implanted in the Statistical Analysis in Genetic Epidemiology software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 518 women and 491 men included in this analysis had a mean (±SD) age of 48.3 (±17.4) and 47.3 (±17.7) years, and a mean BMI of 23.8 (±4.2) and 25.9 (±4.1) kg/m, respectively. Narrow-sense heritability estimates (±standard error) for ambulatory SBP, DBP, and pulse pressure were 0.37 ± 0.07, 0.26 ± 0.07, and 0.29 ± 0.07 for 24-h BP; 0.39 ± 0.07, 0.28 ± 0.07, and 0.27 ± 0.07 for day BP; and 0.25 ± 0.07, 0.20 ± 0.07, and 0.30 ± 0.07 for night BP, respectively (all P < 0.001). Heritability estimates for office SBP, DBP, and pulse pressure were 0.21 ± 0.08, 0.25 ± 0.08, and 0.18 ± 0.07 (all P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found significant heritability estimates for both ambulatory and office BP in this Swiss population-based study. Our findings justify the ongoing search for the genetic determinants of BP.
authors.affiliation: aInstitute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne bDepartment of Cardiology cService of Nephrology, Department of Specialties, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva dService of Nephrology, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne eDepartment of Nephrology, Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and University of Bern, Bern fUnit of Population Epidemiology, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland gStudies Coordinating Centre, Research Unit Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, KU Leuven Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium hDepartment of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands iDepartment of Planning for Drug Development and Clinical Evaluation, Tohoku University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Japan jSwiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne kDepartment of Community Medicine and Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Heba
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alwan
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ehret
authors.forename: Belen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ponte
authors.forename: Menno
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pruijm
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ackermann
authors.forename: Idris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Guessous
authors.forename: Jan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Staessen
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asayama
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kutalik
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vuistiner
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paccaud
authors.forename: Antoinette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pechere-Bertschi
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohaupt
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burnier
authors.forename: Murielle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bochud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000235:genetics*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D059466:White Coat Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics