Relative Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Cells and Hypertension Risk among Mine Workers: A Case-Control Study in Chinese Coal Miners

Abstract

Hypertension is a common chronic disease in middle-aged and elderly people and is an important risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases. Its pathogenesis remains unclear. Epidemiological studies have found that the loss of telomere length in peripheral blood cells can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, and other diseases. However, a correlation between loss of telomere length and hypertension has not been established. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between telomere length and the risk of essential hypertension (EH) in Chinese coal miners. A case-control study was performed with 215 EH patients and 222 healthy controls in a large coal mining group located in North China. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained staff with the necessary medical knowledge. Relative telomere length (RTL) was measured by a quantitative real-time PCR assay using DNA extracted from peripheral blood. In the control group, the age-adjusted RTL was statistically significantly lower in miners performing hard physical labour compared with nonphysical labour ( P = 0.043 ). A significantly shorter age-adjusted RTL was found in the control group of participants who consumed alcohol regularly compared with those who do not consume alcohol ( P = 0.024 ). Age-adjusted RTL was negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI) and alcohol consumption. Hypertension was also found to be significantly correlated with factors such as age, BMI, alcohol consumption, smoking, and tea consumption. Our results suggest that RTL is associated with hypertension in coal miners.

Telomere length and the risk of cardiovascular diseases: A Mendelian randomization study

“…For instance, some previous studies suggested that there was no association between TL and blood pressure (38)(39)(40). A previous meta-analysis of 10 studies indicated a significant negative correlation between TL and hypertension (41), which was also observed in recent studies (42)(43)(44)(45). However, it has also been reported that longer TL is associated with higher blood pressure (46,47).…”

Leukocyte Telomere Length Mediates the Associations between Blood Lead and Cadmium with Hypertension among Adults in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Cheng et al, for example, reported that the LTL of essential hypertension patients was significantly shorter, which might be due to the defective TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase) and TERC (internal RNA template) expression in leukocytes, which is responsible for maintaining and prolonging LTL and plays a role in regulating tissue repair and regeneration [43]. This was also reported in a community-based study in Lebanon and a study about coal miners in China [44,45]. The mechanism by which telomere length causes hypertension is still unclear.…”