Blood pressure is a heritable trait1 influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension ($140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or $90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events.
This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3–GUCY1B3, NPR3–C5orf23, ADM, FURIN–FES, GOSR2, GNAS–EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genomewide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and…
