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Mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood cell and hypertension risk among mining workers: a case–control study in Chinese coal miners

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 31, pages 585–590 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Alteration of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number, which reflects oxidant-induced cell damage, has been observed in a wide range of human diseases. However, whether it correlates with hypertension has not been elucidated. We aimed to explore the association between mtDNA copy number and the risk of hypertension in Chinese coal miners. A case–control study was performed with 378 hypertension patients and 325 healthy controls in a large coal mining group located in North China. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained staffs with necessary medical knowledge. The mtDNA copy number was measured by a quantitative real-time PCR assay using DNA extracted from peripheral blood. No significant differences in mtDNA copy number were observed between hypertension patients and healthy controls. However, in both case and control groups, the mtDNA copy number was statistically significantly lower in the elder population (≥45 years old) compared with the younger subjects (<45 years old; 7.17 vs 6.64, P=0.005 and 7.21 vs 6.84, P=0.036). A significantly higher mtDNA copy number could be found in hypertension patients consuming alcohol regularly compared with no alcohol consumption patients (7.09 vs 6.69); mtDNA copy number was also positively correlated with age and alcohol consumption. Hypertension was found significantly correlated with factors such as age, work duration, monthly family income and drinking status. Our results suggest that the mtDNA copy number is not associated with hypertension in coal miners.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all interviewers for their assistance with data collection. We also thank all the coal miners who participated in our study. The study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 81273040) and a grant from the Research Project of Public Health Graduate Education Innovation Center of Shanxi Coal Mine (No KY2015006).

Author contributions

LL and JG performed data analyses, drafted the manuscript, finalized and submitted the manuscript. JG, XS, GZ and HK contributed to perform the DNA extraction and qPCR experiments. CS and JH contributed to the data collection and quality control. LL and TW conceived the idea, designed and led the project. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. L Lei and J Guo: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China

    L Lei, J Guo, X Shi, G Zhang & H Kang

  2. Department of Urology, General Hospital of Datong Coal Mining Group, Datong, China

    C Sun

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, General Hospital of Datong Coal Mining Group, Datong, China

    J Huang

  4. Department of Health Statistics, College of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China

    T Wang

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  1. L Lei
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Correspondence to L Lei or T Wang.

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Lei, L., Guo, J., Shi, X. et al. Mitochondrial DNA copy number in peripheral blood cell and hypertension risk among mining workers: a case–control study in Chinese coal miners. J Hum Hypertens 31, 585–590 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2017.30

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