Maternal component in the familial aggregation of hypertension

To assess maternal versus paternal contributions to the familial aggregatio n of hypertension, we examined family history data from 344 hypertensive pr obands (69 African American, 153 US Caucasian, 122 Greek Caucasian) ascerta ined without respect to parental hypertension status. The proportion of hyp ertensive mothers (81.7, 65.0 and 84.8% for African Americans, US Caucasian s and Greek Caucasians, respectively) of these probands was significantly g reater than the proportion of hypertensive fathers (50.0, 44.9 and 48.3%, r espectively) in all three ethnic groups. The lifetime risk of hypertension was significantly greater for mothers compared with fathers of these hypert ensive probands (p < 0.001). Examination of the proband's siblings indicate d that maternal history of hypertension was associated with greater lifetim e risk for hypertension than paternal history (p < 0.01). In conclusion, we observe a consistent maternal component in the inheritance of hypertension . Although we cannot separate a maternal genetic from epigenetic or environ mental effect, our findings suggest that genetic research should include st udies of the mitochondrial as well as nuclear genome. Furthermore, when ass essing a patient's risk for hypertension, particular attention should be pa id to the maternal family history.