ASSOCIATION OF ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME-ACTIVITY AND ARTERIAL BLOOD-PRESSURE IN A POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE

To investigate the relationship between circulating angiotensin conver ting enzyme activity and arterial blood pressure in a population-based sample of 646 middle-aged subjects. Results After exclusion of subjec ts taking antihypertensive medication and those with electrocardiograp hic evidence of myocardial infarction, univariate analyses revealed th at systolic blood pressure was significantly correlated with age and w ith body mass index. Also, angiotensin converting enzyme activity in m en (n=230) was found to be related both to systolic and to diastolic b lood pressure, Inclusion of all of the men slightly strengthened the a ssociation between angiotensin converting enzyme activity and systolic or diastolic blood pressure, Multilinear regression models that inclu ded age, body mass index and antihypertensive therapy as obligatory co variates confirmed an independent correlation between angiotensin conv erting enzyme activity and systolic or diastolic blood pressure in the men. Furthermore, untreated men from the highest quartile of angioten sin converting enzyme activity displayed significantly higher mean sys tolic and diastolic blood pressure values than did those from lower qu artiles, even after adjustment for covariates. In contrast, untreated women (n=264) displayed no evidence for such associations between angi otensin converting enzyme activity and blood pressure. Conclusion The data suggest that the variability of serum angiotensin converting enzy me activity occurring in this large population-based sample might be r elated to the level of arterial blood pressure levels in men.