Angiotensinogen polymorphism M235T is the most common genetic risk factor for essential hypertension. According to the literature, the prevalence of this poly­morphism in Europe is 30-60% among patients with essen­tial hypertension. European studies suggest that there is a 15-40% prevalence of this polymorphism in a healthy population.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of angiotensinogen polymorphism M235T in patients with essential hypertension and in a healthy population from the Republic of Macedonia, to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between these groups, and to explore the clinical aspects of hypertension in the analyzed group. The study was designed as a retrospec-tive-prospective case-control study. We analyzed 40 pa­tients and 40 healthy individuals. Strict inclusion criteria were established for patients with regard to family history of essential hypertension, the level of blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), acquired risk factors, and applied ther­apy. The polymorphism was identified by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, using a Tth111 I restriction enzyme.

The prevalence of M235T in patients with essential hypertension was 55.0% and in the control group it was 32.5%.

There was a significant difference in M235T preva­lence in both groups (p <0.04). This result suggests that angiotensinogen polymorphism M235T is a risk factor for essential hypertension in patients from the Republic of Macedonia.

Key words: Angiotensinogen; Essential hypertension; M235T polymorphism.