A genome scan for hypertension susceptibility loci in populations of Chinese and Japanese origins.

Background: Our understanding of genes that predispose to essential hypertension is poor.

Methods: A genome-wide scan for linkage at approximately 10 cM resolution was done on 1425 sibpairs of Chinese and Japanese origins that were concordant for hypertension (N = 661), low-normal blood pressure (BP) (N = 184), or discordant for BP (N = 580).

Results: There was no significant evidence of linkage to a single locus in the genome. There was suggestive evidence of linkage to chromosome 10p, with a LOD score of 2.5.

Conclusions: We can exclude the possibility that a single gene accounts for at least 15% of the variance in hypertension in this population.