Obineche Enyioma, Abdulle Abdishakur M, Bokhari Awais M, Yasin Javed Y, Gillett Michael P T
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, UAE University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Ann Saudi Med. 2006 Sep-Oct;26(5):364-9. doi: 10.5144/0256-4947.2006.364.
Racial variations are reported in the natural history of hypertension. For example, hypertension is significantly more prevalent in blacks than whites. Endothelial cells are important regulators of vascular tone and homeostasis, in part through secretions of vasoactive substances including endothelin-1 (ET-1), a small peptide with potent vasopressor actions. In black hypertensives, ET-1 levels are higher than in normotensive blacks and in both hypertensive and normotensive whites. Since ET-1 might play a significant role in the development and severity of hypertension in the indigenous Arab population of the United Arab Emirates, we investigated the circulating levels of ET-1 in this homogenous population.
ET-1 levels were measured in plasma samples from 60 untreated hypertensive Arabs and compared with 60 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls.
ET-1 levels were significantly higher in hypertensives (mean 10.1 +/- 1 pmol/L) than normotensives (mean 2.2 +/- 0.5 pmol/L). Body mass index (BMI) was slightly higher among the hypertensives. For all subjects these levels significantly (P < 0.001) correlated with systolic blood pressure and less significantly (P < 0.05) with diastolic blood pressure and body weight. The correlation between ET-1 and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was persistently significant after adjusting for BMI.
Plasma concentrations of ET-1 are significantly higher in hypertensive Gulf Arabs as compared with reported levels in white hypertensives and ET-1 could be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in this population. The endothelial system might be particularly important with respect to hypertension in this racial group and merits further study.
高血压自然病史存在种族差异。例如，黑人高血压的患病率显著高于白人。内皮细胞是血管张力和内环境稳态的重要调节因子，部分是通过分泌包括内皮素 -1（ET-1）在内的血管活性物质来实现的，ET-1是一种具有强大升压作用的小肽。在黑人高血压患者中，ET-1水平高于血压正常的黑人以及高血压和血压正常的白人。由于ET-1可能在阿拉伯联合酋长国本土阿拉伯人群高血压的发生和严重程度中起重要作用，我们调查了该同质人群中ET-1的循环水平。
测量了60名未经治疗的阿拉伯高血压患者血浆样本中的ET-1水平，并与60名年龄和性别匹配的血压正常对照者进行比较。
高血压患者的ET-1水平（平均10.1±1 pmol/L）显著高于血压正常者（平均2.2±0.5 pmol/L）。高血压患者的体重指数（BMI）略高。对于所有受试者，这些水平与收缩压显著相关（P<0.001），与舒张压和体重的相关性较弱（P<0.05）。在调整BMI后，ET-1与收缩压和舒张压之间的相关性仍然显著。
与报道的白人高血压患者水平相比，海湾阿拉伯高血压患者血浆中ET-1浓度显著更高，ET-1可能是该人群心血管疾病的危险因素。内皮系统在这个种族群体的高血压方面可能特别重要，值得进一步研究。
