Impact of lifestyle modification practices and pharmacogenetics of <i>ACE I/D</i> gene polymorphism in grade 1 hypertensive patients.

Abstract

Hypertension is a chronic disease whose prevalence is gradually increasing in society. It causes disease burden for a country, especially in low and middle-income countries. The present study aimed at analysing the impact of lifestyle modification practices and the role of pharmacogenetics of anti-hypertensive drugs in hypertensive patients susceptible to <i>ACE I/D</i> polymorphisms. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was done on 447 hypertensive patients (grade 1) with age >20 years, both genders, with and without co-morbid diseases, taking anti-hypertensive drugs for more than one year, were recruited for the study. By convenience sampling method, 100 hypertensive patients taking amlodipine (5 mg/day) or telmisartan (20 mg/day) for more than one year were enlisted from the initially recruited study group, along with 100 healthy volunteers. Patients who practiced various lifestyle modifications were seen to have good control (<i>P</i> < 0.05) of hypertension. <i>ACE I/D</i> gene polymorphism was significantly (<i>P</i> = 0.04) associated with hypertension when compared to control subjects. The distribution of the study subjects showed deviation from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (<i>P</i> = 0.001). Amlodipine (5 mg/day) in <i>ACE II</i> and telmisartan (20 mg/day) in <i>ACE DD</i> genotype showed better control of blood pressure among the study population. The present study showed that lifestyle modification along with individualized drug therapy is vital in controlling blood pressure in grade 1 hypertensive patients.