Genetic variance in blood pressure

The National Heart and Lung Institute Twin Study has examined 514 white adult male twin sets aged 42-56 with respect to blood pressure. The data were analyzed by a method of Christian et al. which eliminates possible biases in estimated genetic variances that could result from different total variances in MZ and DZ twins. Results of the test for the presence of genetic variance indicate that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure are to a considerable extent genetically controlled with an estimated heritability of 0.8 for systolic and 0.6 for diastolic pressure. Although these findings are at variance with some previous reports, it is thought that much of the discrepancy results from application of different analytic techniques, not in the data themselves. The application of these findings to our understanding of hypertension epidemiology and community hypertension control programs are discussed.