Deletion Allele of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Gene Increases Risk of Essential Hypertension in Japanese Men

Abstract

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. Methods and 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.