Heritability and major gene effects on left ventricular mass in the Chinese population: A family study

Background: Genetic components controlling for echocardiographically determined left ventricular (LV) mass are still unclear in the Chinese population. Methods: We conducted a family study from the Chin-San community, Taiwan, and a total of 368 families, 1145 subjects, were recruited to undergo echocardiography to measure LV mass. Commingling analysis, familial correlation, and complex segregation analysis were applied to detect component distributions and the mode of inheritance. Results: The two-component distribution model was the best-fitting model to describe the distribution of LV mass. The highest familial correlation coefficients were mother-son (0.379, P < .0001) and father-son (0.356, P < .0001). Genetic heritability (h2) of LV mass was estimated as 0.268 ± 0.061 (P < .0001); it decreased to 0.153 ± 0.052 (P =.0009) after systolic blood pressure adjustment. Major gene effects with polygenic components were the best-fitting model to explain the inheritance mode of LV mass. The estimated allele frequency of the gene was 0.089. Conclusion: There were significant familial correlations, heritability and a major gene effect on LV mass in the population-based families. © 2006 Chien et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.