Hypertension, Essential, Susceptibility To, 5

For a phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of essential hypertension, see 145500.

In complex trait studies, the collection of additional phenotypic data allows comorbid intermediary phenotypes to be used to characterize more genetically homogeneous subsets. Using a specially designed approach in the analysis of biometric and biochemical covariate data from 2,044 sib pairs with severe hypertension collected by the British Genetics of Hypertension (BRIGHT) study, Wallace et al. (2006) found genomewide-significant evidence for linkage of hypertension to a 28-Mb region on chromosome 20q11-q13 when the body mass measures weight, BMI, and hip circumference were included in the analysis (minimum genomewide P = 0.002, maximum lod = 4.24). The linkage was associated with leaner body mass: genetic similarity increased as the mean body mass of the sib pair decreased. Wallace et al. (2006) also identified a hypertension locus on 5p associated with high renal function (HYT6; 610262). After correction for the multiple traits and genetic locations studied, the global genomewide P value was 0.046. This was said to be the first identity-by-descent regression analysis of hypertension, and it demonstrated the value of this approach for the incorporation of additional phenotypic information in genetic studies of complex traits.