Aims: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is important to the development of atrial fibrillation (AF). A lot of research has focused on the relationship between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion (I) /deletion (D) gene polymorphisms and AF, with inconsistent results. A meta-analysis was carried out to find the correlation between ACE I/D gene polymorphisms and AF.
Methods: Data were extracted from articles published before September 2013 on ACE I/D polymorphisms and AF in Embase, PubMed, WanFangData, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure.
Results: The recessive model found that ACE I/D gene polymorphisms were related to AF (odds ratio (OR) = 1.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.16-1.72). Subgroup analysis showed a significant association in the recessive model for Asian (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.19-1.80) and Caucasian (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.01-1.99) populations.
Conclusions:ACE I/D gene polymorphisms and AF are significantly related to ethnicity. Individuals with the ACE D/D genotype appear to be at higher risk of AF.