Aim Genetic susceptibility is an important risk factor for aortic aneurysm and dissection.Recent case-control association studies have identified six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a Caucasian population.We aimed to determine whether these loci confer susceptibility to thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) in a Chinese Han population and thus to establish cross-race susceptibility to TAD.Methods This study analyzed blood DNA isolated from 206 TAD patients and 180 controls from the ethnic Chinese Han population.Six SNPs-rs819146, rs8003379, rs2853523, rs326118, rs3788205, and rs10757278-were genotyped using high-throughput matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry.Results The A allele frequency for the SNP on 9p21, tagged as rs10757278, was higher in male TAD patients than in male controls (P=0.017).Moreover, with adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors (sex, age, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and smoking), the rs10757278 [odds ratio (OR) 0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43 to 0.93] polymorphism was found to be an independent susceptibility factor for TAD in men.Conclusion Our results suggest that a sequence variant on 9p21 is an important susceptibility locus that confers high cross-race risk for development of TAD in Chinese Han population.