Association between deletion polymorphism of angiotensin converting enzyme gene and proteinuria in Japanese overweight men

A cross-sectional study was performed in 237 overweight men (BMI: 25.0-34.8 kg/m²) to investigate the relationship between an insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism of intron 16 of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene and proteinuria. Proteinuria (± or greater) was determined with a reagent strip. The prevalences of proteinuria were 9.2, 13.3 and 24.3% in the subjects with the ACE II, ID and DD genotype, respectively. There was a significant difference between the II and the DD genotypes in the prevalence of proteinuria. No difference among the three genotypes was observed in blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and HbA_1c. When the subjects were divided into two groups according to the result of urinalysis, the prevalence of the DD genotype was significantly higher in the group with proteinuria (28.1%) than in the group without it (13.7%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the ACE DD genotype was independently related to proteinuria. The results suggest that the ACE DD genotype may be an independent risk factor of proteinuria in Japanese overweight men. It is specially important for subjects with the ACE DD genotype to prevent the other risk factors of proteinuria such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity by keeping healthy life-style habits.