Heritability of Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Population of Western Region of Iraq

Abstract

Heritability of ambulatory blood pressure parameters in western population has been well described, there
is no information on Iraqi population. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate genetic
influences on intra-individual variation, by performing heritability analysis on an Iraqi population (Anbar
province).
A total of 389 individuals, constituting 93 families were ascertained. Most of the parents included in the
study were in their 5th and 6th decade of life, and the siblings included in the study were in their 2nd and 3rd
decade of life.
To define the portion of difference of variables that is due to genetic and non-genetic influences, full sib
analysis was used to estimate heritabilities of blood pressure parameters systolic, diastolic, mean and pulse
pressure were estimated during the morning and evening. Heritabilities were estimated in narrow sense
which were ranged from 28 % for morning systolic blood pressure to 84% for morning systemic pulse
pressure.
The finding of modest narrow sense heritability indicates the significant role of non-genetic factors affecting
morning systolic, evening systolic and diastolic, and mean blood pressure, whereas the high estimate of
heritability for morning diastolic and pulse pressure indicate the significant effect of genetic.