Gene polymorphisms related to an increased incidence of arterial hypertension in a cohort of Polish patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS)

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in an independent risk factor for arterial hypertension development. Both OSA and arterial hypertension frequently coexist, thus common genetic background can be suspected. Material and methods: We enrolled 600 participants with diagnosis of OSA in all stages of severity from 2 tertiary care outpatient clinics in Warsaw, Poland. All patients undergone polysomnography and were evaluated for the diagnosis of hypertension. Gene polymorphisms for genes encoding ALOX5AP, SREBF2, ADRA2A, APOA5 and TCF7L2 were analyzed in blood samples. Chisquare and Mann-Whitney tests were used for comparisons. Results: Data of 449 (74.8%) men and 151 (25.2%) women were analyzed. Arterial hypertension was diagnosed in 427 (71.2%) participants. In the hypertensive patients with OSA median age was 59 (53–64) years, BMI 32.8 (28.9– 37.3) kg/m2, AHI 39 (24–60)/hour. Among tested genes only TCF7L2 polymorphism ([C/T] rs7903146) was linked to increased incidence of arterial hypertension. Conclusions: Results of our analysis suggest potential relationship of TCF7L2 polymorphism ([C/T] rs7903146) and development of hypertension in patients with OSA, although further studies regarding impact of genetic in comparison with traditional risk factor for hypertension are needed.