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Genetic admixture, social–behavioural factors and body composition are associated with blood pressure differently by racial–ethnic group among children

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 26, pages 98–107 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease has a progressively earlier age of onset, and disproportionately affects African Americans (AAs) in the United States. It has been difficult to establish the extent to which group differences are due to physiological, genetic, social or behavioural factors. In this study, we examined the association between blood pressure and these factors among a sample of 294 children, identified as AA, European American or Hispanic American. We use body composition, behavioural (diet and physical activity) and survey-based measures (socio-economic status and perceived racial discrimination), as well as genetic admixture based on 142 ancestry informative markers (AIMs) to examine associations with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. We find that associations differ by ethnic/racial group. Notably, among AAs, physical activity and perceived racial discrimination, but not African genetic admixture, are associated with blood pressure, while the association between blood pressure and body fat is nearly absent. We find an association between blood pressure and an AIM near a marker identified by a recent genome-wide association study. Our findings shed light on the differences in risk factors for elevated blood pressure among ethnic/racial groups, and the importance of including social and behavioural measures to grasp the full genetic/environmental aetiology of disparities in blood pressure.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participants of the AMERICO study and their families. Funded in part by NIH grants R01-DK067426, T32-HL007457, P30-DK56336, CA47888 and P60-DK079626. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIH or any other organization with which the authors are affiliated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics, Section on Statistical Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Y C Klimentidis, D B Allison & J R Fernandez

  2. Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    A Dulin-Keita, K Casazza, A L Willig & J R Fernandez

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  1. Y C Klimentidis
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Correspondence to Y C Klimentidis.

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Klimentidis, Y., Dulin-Keita, A., Casazza, K. et al. Genetic admixture, social–behavioural factors and body composition are associated with blood pressure differently by racial–ethnic group among children. J Hum Hypertens 26, 98–107 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2010.130

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