Introduction: We performed a meta-analysis with the aim of assessing the association of the angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor gene A1166C polymorphism with essential hypertension in Chinese case-control studies.
Methods: Studies were searched from the Chinese Biomedicine Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure platform, Pubmed and Medline, using the search terms 'hypertension', 'angiotensin II type 1 receptor', 'AT(1)R', 'polymorphism', 'China' and 'Chinese', without limiting to any specific language. The strength of the association between the A1166C polymorphism and hypertension was evaluated by the odds ratio (OR) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). The analyses were performed with Cochrane RevMan software version 4.2.
Results: Overall, the variant genotype AC/CC was associated with a statistically increased essential hypertension risk with the pooled OR 1.48 (95% CI: 1.20-1.83). In the subgroup analyses, the association was also significant among studies using Northern populations, Southern populations, Han Chinese and hospital-based controls. The age did not influence the relationship between the AT( 1) receptor A1166C polymorphism and hypertension in the subgroup analyses.
Conclusions: The present meta-analysis suggests that the AT(1) receptor 1166 AC/CC genotype is associated with susceptibility to hypertension in the Chinese population.