Variants of renin-angiotensin system genes and echocardiographic left ventricular mass

Aims Variants of renin–angiotensin system genes are shown tobe associated with cardiovascular pathology. The associationbetween renin–angiotensin system genes and left ventricularmass was investigated in a population-based case-control study. Methods and Results The association between echocardiographic left ventricular massand both insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin-convertingenzyme gene and the methionine|adthreonine variant at position235 of the angiotensinogen gene was studied in a random cohortof 430 hypertensive and 426 control subjects. No differencesin the adjusted left ventricular mass values between the differentgenotypes were seen among either the hypertensive or the controlsubjects, whether men or women, or in the subgroups of normotensiveor physically active subjects. Gene variation had no statisticallysignificant synergistic effect on left ventricular mass values.In control women, the deletion allele of the angiotensin-convertingenzyme gene was associated with an increased risk of left ventricularhypertrophy. However, this finding was based on a small numberof women with left ventricular hypertrophy and should be interpretedwith caution. Conclusion Variations in renin–angiotensin system genes had no majoreffect on left ventricular mass in this middle-aged population-basedcohort of hypertensives and control subjects.