URINARY N-ACETYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSAMINIDASE CHANGES IN RELATION TO AGE, SEX, RACE, AND DIASTOLIC AND SYSTOLIC BLOOD-PRESSURE IN A YOUNG-ADULT BIRACIAL POPULATION - THE BOGALUSA HEART-STUDY

Increased urinary activity of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) ha s been reported in many clinical conditions, including essential hyper tension. Since hypertension is increasingly recognized as beginning in childhood, we hypothesized that urinary NAG changes with increasing b lood pressure may start early in life and may also be the evidence of the existence of early hypertensive disease. We analyzed the urinary N AG changes in 980 young adults, ages between 18 to 32, in relation to age, race, sex, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. We observed that black women had the highest level of NAG, with or without adjust ment for creatinine. With aging, urinary NAG significantly increased i n men. As blood pressure increased, urinary NAG excretion appeared to increase, and this was more apparent in black women (P <.05). Signific ant correlations between NAG excretion and systolic (r = 0.12, P =.04) and diastolic (r = 0.18, P = .003) blood pressures existed in the old est age group, 28 to 32 years old. These findings show that a signific ant association between urinary NAG and blood pressure exists in norma l young adults and changes in urinary NAG may be evidence of early hyp ertensive disease.