Leptin is associated with blood pressure and hypertension in women from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study.

ABSTRACT: Leptin is a key neuroendocrine hormone regulating food intake, metabolism, and fat accumulation, and it may also affect blood pressure and contribute to hypertension through sympathetic activation in the vasculature or at the renal level. Although previous studies have shown that the distribution of leptin is significantly different between males and females, as is the risk of hypertension between males and females, results regarding the role of leptin in the gender-specific regulation of blood pressure are controversial. Thus, we performed family-based association analyses in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study to test the hypothesis that LEPTIN gene variants and the plasma leptin level influence variability in blood pressure and the risk of hypertension diffe

SUBMITTER: Ma D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2668693 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature