Abstract Background Genetic and environment play a significant role in the etiology of essential hypertension (EH). Recently STK39 rs3754777, ATP2B1 rs2681472 and rs17249754 have been associated with BP variation and hypertension. In this study we aimed to determine firstly whether index variants were associated with the risk of developing EH in Burkina Faso and secondly to characterize cardiovascular risk markers. Methods We conducted a case-control study with 380 participants including 180 case subjects with EH and 200 control subjects with normal BP. We used TaqMan genotyping assays with probes from Applied Biosystems to genotype polymorphisms using the 7500 Real-Time PCR System. Biochemical parameters were measured using chemistry analyzer COBAS C311. Results T-test showed that cardiovascular risk markers such as body mass index, waist circumference, blood sugar, total cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly higher in hypertensive compared to normotensive (all p 3.8; all p 0.05). Conclusion Our results confirmed the significant association of ATP2B1 rs17249754 with the risk of developing EH in Burkinabe and showed an increase of cardiovascular risk markers levels in subjects with EH.