Association of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Gen PolyMorphism with Electrocardiography and Echocardiography Findings in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Gene polymorphism of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) may be associated with adverse prognosis and increased cardiovascular complications in hemodialysis patients. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the frequency of ACE gene polymorphism in both hemodialysis patients and normal individuals considering echocardiographic findings. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 110 hemodialysis patients (case) and 113 healthy subjects (control). Gene polymorphism of ACE was evaluated in both groups. ECG and echocardiography tests were performed for all patients. Correlations between gene polymorphisms and other variables were analyzed in this study. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the short deletion allele (D with 190bp), large insertion allele (I with 490bp), and ID genotype which has both alleles. Results: Case and control groups included 46 and 54 female and 64 and 59 male patients, respectively. There were no significant differences between the prevalence of DD, II, and DI alleles of the ACE gene with DI as the most common allele in both groups. No significant differences were found between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in DD, DI, and II alleles of the case group. Echocardiographic findings of the patients showed no significant differences between DD, DI, and II genotypes of the case group and intraventricular septal end-diastole (IVSd), MVE vel, MVA vel, MVE/A ratio, MV DT, and MV Dec slope. The mean +/- SD left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) in II, ID, and DD patients were 4.3 +/- 0.72, 4.52 +/- 0.66, and 4.89 +/- 0.93 respectively (P=0.046). Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that there were no differences in the prevalence of alleles of an ACE gene in hemodialysis patients and control groups. Moreover, no significant associations were observed between alleles of an ACE gene in the patients' group and echocardiographic findings except in left ventricular end-diastolic diameter.