Target organs involvement in arterial hypertension. The role of heredity and environment (study of twins)

Aim. To elucidate relationship between hereditary and environmental factors in development of target organ damage in hypertension. Material and methods. The state of myocardium, central nervous system, blood vessels (including funduscopic examination) was assessed in 64 pairs of mono- and dizygous hypertensive twins (mean age 57.2+/-3.2 years) and clinical and genetic analysis of qualitative and quantitative signs was carried out. Results. Hypertensive twins had similar qualitative features of target organs involvement irrespective of duration of hypertension. Concordance of signs of target organ damage in homozygous twins was more than twice higher than that of same signs in dizygous twin pairs. Left ventricular myocardial mass and intima-media thickness were mainly determined by hereditary factors. Their contribution into overall phenotypic variability of a sign exceeded 70%.