Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between β₂-adrenergic receptor gene 79 G/C polymorphism and essential hypertension. Methods β₂-AR genotyping was identified with polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism in 123 unrelated healthy controls and 109 patients with essential hypertension. Fasting blood glucose,serum cholesterol,triglyceride and high density lipid-cholesterol were measured. Results The allelic frequencies were 0.09 for the C allele and 0.91 for the G allele in normotensive subjects,0.07 for the C allele and 0.93 for the G allele in essential hypertension patients. The allelic frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No significant differences in genotype distribution （ P ＞0.05）and C allelic frequencies distribution （ P ＞0.05） was found between normal and essential hypertension groups. Conclusion These results suggest that 79G/C polymorphism of β₂-AR gene is not associated with essential hypertension in Chinese.