We examined the associations of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) genes with blood pressure (BP) changes and hypertension incidence in a longitudinal family study.

A total of 2,755 Han Chinese participants of the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity (GenSalt) baseline examination were eligible for this study. The associations of 43 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ENaC genes with BP changes and hypertension incidence were assessed using mixed models to account for the correlations of repeated measures among individuals and within families. A genotype by time interaction term was used to model differences in longitudinal BP change according to genotype over time. Gene-based analyses were conducted using the truncated product method. The Bonferroni method was used to adjust for multiple testing in all analyses.

During an average of 7.4 years follow-up, systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) increased, and approximately 33% of participants developed hypertension. SCNN1A SNP rs11064153 and SCNN1G SNP rs4401050 were significantly associated with longitudinal changes in SBP after adjustment for multiple testing (P_interaction = 5.8×10^–4 and 0.001, respectively). Similar but nonsignificant trends were observed for the associations between both rs11064153 and rs4401050 and DBP changes (P_interaction = 0.024 and 0.005, respectively) and between rs11604153 and hypertension incidence (P = 0.02). Gene-based analyses also supported the overall association of SCNN1G with longitudinal changes in SBP (P = 2.0×10^–4).

Our findings indicated that SCNN1A and SCNN1G may contribute to BP changes over time in the Han Chinese population. Replication of these findings is warranted.