Searching for genes involved in hypertension development in special populations: children and pre-eclamptic women. Where are we standing now?

Abstract

Primary hypertension is a very common disorder particularly in the aging population but hypertensive disorders can appear earlier in life, especially when obesity and unhealthy lifestyle are present. Also pregnant women can be at risk of developing gestational hypertension and/or pre-eclampsia, which causes complications in nearly 7% of pregnancies. These "special" populations could be regarded as natural models suited to reveal mechanisms of hypertension development which are either common to other forms of hypertension, including primary hypertension or specific to these populations. Recent studies in the field of genetics of primary hypertension have used new powerful tools, such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and sequencing, but studies about hypertension during childhood and in pregnancy have seldom used high-throughput technologies and the knowledge in this field comes mostly from the candidate gene approach. In this review we summarize some interesting results from genetic studies conducted in childhood and adolescence and during pregnancy and underline the need to apply modern technologies in these potentially very fruitful populations.

Association between Vegetable Consumption and Blood Pressure, Stratified by BMI, among Chinese Adolescents Aged 13–17 Years: A National Cross-Sectional Study

“…Currently, the dietary guidelines for vegetable intake are mostly based on studies in adults, and for adolescents, there is no consensus regarding daily vegetable consumption [ 6 ]. Different from adolescents, adults have greater life experience and have accumulated more complex environmental effects; hypertension in adults could be largely attributed to the aging process and stiffness of arterial trees [ 11 ]. In addition, for adolescents, high blood pressure (HBP) is usually defined as a systolic blood pressure (SBP) or (diastolic BP) DBP higher than the age-, sex- and height-specific 95th percentile.…”

Parental and offspring contribution of genetic markers of adult blood pressure in early life: The FAMILY study

“…These GWAS signals point toward the role of vasodilatory hormones, ionic regulation by solute channels and vascular smooth muscle growth and signaling in the pathogenesis of HTN [ 7 ]. It is noteworthy that most of the GWAS studies for BP have been performed in adults of European ancestry, and only one GWAS for BP has been reported in children and adolescents [ 5 , 8 , 9 ]. To date, four studies assessed the contribution of SNPs identified in adult GWAS in children and adolescents of European ancestry [ 9 – 12 ].…”