Background Essential hypertension(EH) has become the most common chronic non-infectious epidemic and is one of the most common risk factors for the damage to heart,brain,kidney and other organs.The serum levels of ICAM-1,IGF-1 and IL-8 play important roles in the pathogenesis of EH.Methods In the medical check-up center of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College,sixty normal offspring with a family history of EH were randomly recruited into two groups:30 offspring with a father or mother suffering from EH as single-parent group,and 30 offspring with both parents suffering from EH as double-parent group,and another 30 normal offspring whose parents did not suffer from EH as control group.The serum levels of ICAM-1,IGF-1 and IL-8 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Result The serum levels of ICAM-1,IGF-1 and IL-8 were significantly higher in both single-parent group and double-parent group than in the control group(P < 0.05),and the serum levels of ICAM-1,IGF-1 and IL-8 were higher in the double-parent group than in the single-parent group(P < 0.05).The serum levels of ICAM-1,IGF-1 and IL-8 were positively correlated with the severity of blood pressure elevation(r = 0.375,r = 0.465,r = 0.326,P < 0.05,P < 0.01,P < 0.05 respectively).Conclusions Due to the influence of heredity,the serum inflammatory factor contents in normal offspring with EH family history may increase before blood pressure rise.Detection of serum inflammatory factors in healthy offspring with a family history of EH could predict occurrence of hypertension,and provide a more reliable basis for the primary prevention of hypertension. Background Essential hypertension (EH) has become the most common chronic non-infectious epidemic and is one of the most common risk factors for the damage to heart, brain, kidney and other organs. The serum levels of ICAM-1, IGF-1 and IL-8 play important roles in the pathogenesis of EH. Methods In the medical check-up center of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College, sixty normal offspring with a family history of EH were randomly recruited into two groups: 30 offspring with a father or mother suffering from EH as single-parent group, and 30 offspring with both parents suffering from EH as double-parent group, and another 30 normal offspring whose parents did not suffer from EH as control group. serum levels of ICAM-1 , IGF-1 and IL-8 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) .Result The serum levels of ICAM-1, IGF-1 and IL-8 were significantly higher in both single-parent group and double-parent group than in the control group (P <0.05), and the serum lev els of ICAM-1, IGF-1 and IL-8 were higher in the double-parent group than in the single-parent group (P <0.05). serum levels of ICAM-1, IGF- positively correlated with the severity of blood pressure elevation (r = 0.375, r = 0.465, r = 0.326, P <0.05, P <0.01, P <0.05 respectively) .Conclusions Due to the influence of heredity, the serum inflammatory factor contents in normal offspring with EH family history may increase before blood pressure rise. Detection of serum inflammatory factors in healthy offspring with a family history of EH could predict occurrence of hypertension, and provide a more reliable basis for the primary prevention of hypertension.