Familial resemblance in the blood pressure response to sodium restriction

Abstract

Familial resemblance in the blood pressure response to sodium restriction in normotensive persons was investigated. Forty-four families of identical twin children participated in a sodium restriction (less than or equal to 75 meq/day) protocol for a period of 12 weeks. Subjects were residents of central Indiana, and the study was conducted over a three-year period. Parent-offspring and sibling-sibling resemblances for actual blood pressure were not different under conditions of ad lib sodium intake versus sodium restriction. Mother-offspring resemblance in blood pressure change with sodium restriction was significant for systolic (p less than 0.001), diastolic (p less than 0.05), and mean arterial (p less than 0.05) pressures. Sibling-sibling and twin-twin resemblances were also highly significant for the change in all three blood pressures. Father-offspring resemblances were marginal (p less than 0.10). This study is, to the author's knowledge, the first to demonstrate significant familial resemblances in blood pressure change with sodium restriction in normotensive persons.