Association of angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism with obesity, cardiovascular risk factors and exercise-mediated changes in Korean women.

This study examined whether the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism is associated with obesity, cardiovascular risk factors and 12-week exercise-mediated changes in Korean women. A total of 105 subjects were divided into three groups as II, ID and DD genotype groups based upon ACE I/D genotypes. Body composition and cardiovascular risk factors were compared among the three groups, and the association of ACE I/D genotypes with obesity and hypertension was evaluated. Total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were higher (P < 0.05) in the DD genotype than in II or ID genotypes. D allele frequency in ACE I/D gene had a higher (P = 0.063) trend in the hypertensive group than the normotensive group. The DD genotype had a trend to develop (odds ratio 4.032, P = 0.086) more hypertension than the II genotype. The II and ID genotypes showed a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in intima media thickness of the carotid artery after an exercise intervention, whereas the DD genotype showed an increase. In conclusion, there is a trend towards association of ACE I/D polymorphism with hypertension but not with obesity. Exercise-mediated changes did not differ significantly among genotypes except IMTCA.