Aim: to investigate the potential association between the ACE gene polymorphism, essential hypertension and pulse pressure.
Methods: the study included 99 non-hypertensive and 104 hypertensive subjects. Hypertension is defined as systolic blood pressure 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure 90 mmHg. Pulse pressure refers to the differences between the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. DNA amplication to examine ACE I/D polymorphism was conducted by Rigat-modification PCR method.
Results: this study showed no significant difference in genotype distribution and allele frequency between two groups. We found PP >60 mmHg is different between ACE gene genotype. Genotype DD has a risk of 1.8 times of having PP >60 mmHg than ID genotype while DD genotype has a risk of 4.4 times of having PP >60mg than II genotype.
Conclusion: this study does not support that the I/D polymorphism at ACE gene locus associated with hypertension in Makassar, South-Sulawesi, Indonesia. However, there were a significant correlation with pulse pressure independent from blood pressure.