Association between and polymorphisms and high blood pressure in a population of Lithuanian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Recently, genome-wide associated studies have identified several genetic loci that are associated with elevated blood pressure and could play a critical role in intracellular calcium homeostasis. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of rs2681472 and rs12258967 gene polymorphisms with high blood pressure (HBP) among Lithuanian children and adolescents aged 12-15 years.

Study Design And Participants: This was a cross-sectional study of a randomly selected sample of 646 12-15-year-old adolescents who participated in the survey 'The Prevalence and Risk Factors of HBP in 12-15 Year-Old Lithuanian Children and Adolescents (from November 2010 to April 2012)'. Anthropometric parameters and BP were measured. The participants with HBP were screened on two separate occasions. Subjects were genotyped rs2681472 and rs12258967 gene polymorphisms using real-time PCR method.

Results: The prevalence of HBP was 36.7%, significantly higher for boys than for girls. In the multivariate analysis, after adjustment for body mass index and waist circumference, boys with CG genotype, GG genotype and CG +GG genotype had higher odds of having HBP in codominant (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.92; 95% CI 1.16 to 3.18, p=0.011; and aOR=2.64; 95% CI 1.19 to 5.90, p=0.018) and in dominant (aOR=2.05; 95% CI 1.27 to 3.30, p=0.003) inheritance models. Girls carrying CG genotype and CG +GG genotype had increased odds of HBP in codominant (aOR=1.82; 95% CI 1.02 to 3.24, p=0.044) and in dominant (aOR=1.89; 95% CI 1.09 to 3.28, p=0.023) inheritance models. Furthermore, significant associations were found in additive models separately for boys (aOR=1.72; 95% CI 1.20 to 2.46, p=0.003) and girls (aOR=1.52; 95% CI 1.05 to 2.20, p=0.027). No significant association was found between gene polymorphism and the odds of HBP.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that gene polymorphism was significantly associated with higher odds of HBP in Lithuanian adolescents aged 12-15 years.