APOL1 risk‐alleles are gene variants associated with a high frequency of ESRD related to hypertension or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis among persons of African descent, and it was notable that the gene variants were also found in African Americans with premature adult CVD deaths unrelated to hypertension (Hughson et al., 2017). This evidence concerns the gene APOL1 and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.