Influences of familial and environmental factors on hypertension

A group of 293 middle-aged subjects with a parental history of hypertension was compared with 210 middle-aged subjects without this history. The adjusted odds ratio for hypertension (WHO-criteria) was 2.0 with parental hypertension - independent of obesity, physical leisure time activity, age and sex. Comparatively in all 503 participants, the independent odds ratio for hypertension was 3.3 with obesity. Analysis of variance in all participants disclosed that blood pressure was independently related to three predictors, parental hypertension (p less than 0.05), body mass index (p less than 0.001), and 2-h blood glucose (p less than 0.001). Additional analysis of variance in all subjects, to estimate if these three predictors were interrelated, disclosed that parental hypertension was not related to either 2-h glucose or body mass index. A clear association was seen between 2-h glucose and body mass index (p less than 0.001). This was underlined in a separate analysis of the 88 hypertensives, among which 25% had impaired glucose tolerance (WHO-criteria). In conclusion, own obesity (environment) had about 1.5 times stronger influence on hypertension than parental hypertension (heredity). Parental hypertension seemed to have a separate influence on the blood pressure. Body mass index and 2-h glucose seemed to have partly separate, and partly interrelated, influences on the blood pressure.