Association of echocardiographic left ventricular structure and −344C/T aldosterone synthase gene variant: A meta-analysis

Association of the -344T/C polymorphism in aldosterone synthase gene promoter with left ventricular structure in Chinese Han: A meta-analysis

No consensus view has been published on the relationship between the aldosterone synthase gene (CYP11B2) -344C/T polymorphism and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in Chinese Han. We undertook a meta-analysis to investigate the potential association of this polymorphism and left ventricular structure-related phenotypes, including left ventricular mass (LVM), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), left ventricular end systolic diameter (LVESD), left ventricular end diastolic dimension (LVEDD), left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), and interventricular septal wall thickness (IVS). Studies in English and Chinese were found based on a systematic search of Medline, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang databases. The dominant model (TT vs. TC+CC) and homozygote model (TT vs. CC) were selected to examine the association between the -344C/T polymorphism and LVH. The random-effects model was used to pool data. From a total of 3104 participants, despite the investigation of six echocardiographic indicators, we found no significant association between the -344C/T variant and LVH in the whole group and the subgroup analyses by blood pressure. However, in the subgroup of northern Han Chinese, TT genotype had higher LVPWT than CC genotype and TC genotype (p_{heterogeneity} = 0.4, p_value = 0.04, 95% CI 0.09 (0.00, 0.18)). In addition, no evidence of publication bias was observed. In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated that subjects with TT genotype might have higher risk of developing LVH in northern Han Chinese.