Stable methylation loci are associated with systolic blood pressure in a Croatian island population.

The objective was to identify stable and dynamic DNA methylation loci associated with cardiometabolic traits among an adult population from the Croatian island of Hvar. An epigenome-wide association study was conducted using peripheral blood longitudinally collected at two time points 10 years apart via Infinium MethylationEPIC beadarray (n = 112). Stable and dynamic loci were identified using linear mixed models. Associations between cardiometabolic traits and loci were assessed using linear models. 22 CpG loci were significantly associated with systolic blood pressure. Twenty were stable and two were dynamic. Multiple genes may be involved in the determination of systolic blood pressure level via stable epigenetic programming, potentially established earlier in life.