ANGIOTENSINOGEN GENE VARIATION ASSOCIATED WITH VARIATION IN BLOOD-PRESSURE IN ABORIGINAL CANADIANS

We measured blood pressure and related clinical phenotypes in 497 adul t native Canadians from an isolated community in Northern Ontario. We analyzed their DNA for genotypes of angiotensinogen. We found that the frequency of the T235 variant of the angiotensinogen gene was 0.89 in this sample. This variant was associated with a significantly increas ed systolic pressure but not diastolic pressure. We also found that se x and body mass were each highly significantly associated with variati on in both systolic and diastolic pressures. We found a significant as sociation between age and variation in systolic pressure but not diast olic pressure. We also found a highly significant association between plasma apolipoprotein B concentration and variation in diastolic press ure but not systolic pressure. The high frequency of the angiotensinog en T235 variant suggests that subjects in this young, essentially norm otensive population might be predisposed to hypertension, which may be come more apparent in the presence of secondary factors.