Urinary albumin excretion in families with type 2 diabetes is heritable and genetically correlated to blood pressure

SBP (rg 0.27) and DBP (rg 0.26) in all pairs of relatives (P , 0.001). In pairs of diabetic relatives, these values were higher ance due to additive genetic effects) and the genetic for SBP and DBP, 0.38 and 0.52, respectively. correlation between traits in the extended families in the Conclusion. In families with type 2 diabetes, UAE is a heri- presence of environmental covariates. This approach has table trait, with a heritability similar to that for blood pressure. been employed to assess genetic contributions to variation A significant genetic correlation between UAE and blood pres- in cardiovascular risk factors [10] and has been extended sure, particularly in the presence of diabetes, indicates that to the mapping of genes for quantitative traits [11]. these traits share common genetic determinants.