Abstract:Objective To investigate the feature of age-of-onset of maternally inherited essential hypertension (MIEH) and the relative risk factors. Methods Two hypertensive pedigrees with the characteristics of MIEH [pedigree A (n=104) and pedigree B (n=19)] and individual hypertensive cases (n=154) were subjected in this study. Their demographic information and clinical data were collected. The age-of-onset, hypertension-associated environment, clinical risk factors and biochemical indices of MIEH (n=36), non-MIEH (n=118) patients and normal controls (n=36) were compared. Results Among the 14 MIEH patients from the pedigree A, the age-of-onset was (62.0±6.2) years in generation Ⅱ (n=4), (46.3±5.8) years in generation Ⅲ (n=6), and (23.3±2.9) years in generation Ⅳ (n=4). Among the 6 MIEH patients from the pedigree B, the age-of-onset was (58.0±0.0) years in generation Ⅰ (n=1), (48.3±7.6) years in generation Ⅱ (n=3), and (37.5±0.7) years in generation Ⅲ (n=2). Among the individual hypertensive cases, the average age-of-onset of hypertension was lower in MIEH patients than in non-MIEH ones (P<0.01). There were significant differences in body mass index (P<0.05), waist to hip ratio (P<0.05), alcohol intaking (P<0.05) and creatinine level (P<0.01) between MIEH and healthy volunteers. Conclusion A progressively early age-of-onset by generation is observed as the characteristics of MIEH. Hereditary factors, probably combining with the clinical risk factors, participate in the early onset of and progress in MIEH.