BACKGROUND: Essential hypertension (EH) is one of the major cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies demonstrated that dopamine D1 and D3 receptor gene polymorphisms (DRD1 and DRD3) play an important role in EH.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: To investigate whether DRD1 and DRD3 polymorphisms are associated with EH, 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the DRD1 and 6 SNPs of DRD3 gene were analyzed in 3 ethnic groups. SNPStats was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and P values. Multiple logistic regression models (co-dominant, dominant, recessive, over-dominant, and log-additive) and chi-squared test were conducted to analyze the genetic data by chi-squared test.

RESULTS: Synonymous SNPs (rs1799914 and rs4867798) of the DRD1 gene and SNPs (rs9880168) of the DRD3 were associated with EH in Hani nationality (OR 3.77, 0.63, 1.43, 5.00, respectively; 95% CI 1.05–13.54, p=0.024; 0.44–0.90, p=0.0121; 1.06–1.94, p=0.019; 1.08–23.10, p=0.017, respectively; Recessive, over-dominant model, respectively). However, none SNPs of DRD1 and DRD3 of best models showed association with EH in Han and Yi nationality.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that SNPs of DRD1 and DRD3 may be contributed to essential hypertension in Hani nationality of China.

Keywords: Hypertension, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide