Association of the insertion/deletion polymorphism at the angiotensin I-converting enzyme locus with arterial blood pressure: Population-based study

Abstract

We have determined frequencies of alleles and genotypes at angiotensinl-converting enzyme (ACE) locus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the healthy population of Belgrade. We also studied the association of this polymorphism with blood pressure (BP) level. When we controlled the other cardiovascular risk factors, moderate association of borderline significance between DD genotype and hypertension (HT) (OR = 1.88, 95% CI, 1.00 to 3.56, P = 0.050) was noted. We concluded that DD genotype of ACE locus predicts HT independently of other factors. No significant effect of the ACE gene polymorphism on systolic and diastolic BP is found by MANCOVA. We hypothesize that ACE is not involved as much in determining the BP values as it is involved in modulation of blood-pressure genes.