title: Plasma apelin levels, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors in a coastal Chinese population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the relationship of plasma apelin levels with blood pressure in a coastal Chinese population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study included a total of 1031 subjects from the coastal areas of China. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and linear trend test, Pearson's correlation analysis, as well as multivariate linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the association between plasma apelin levels and blood pressure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma apelin levels dropped with increasing quartiles of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) (all P<0.001). SBP, DBP, and MABP values decreased as the apelin levels increased within the quartiles. After adjusting for age and gender, the significant differences in SBP, DBP, and MABP between the groups within the apelin quartiles remained (all P<0.05). A significant negative correlation between SBP, DBP, as well as MABP and apelin levels was observed (all P<0.01); even after adjusting for cardiovascular confounding factors, this negative correlation remained (all P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A negative correlation between plasma apelin levels and blood pressure was found in this 1000-population-based epidemiological study. Apelin may become a potential therapeutic target of anti-hypertensive treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fujian Provincial Institute of Clinical Geriatrics, Fujian Medical University , Fuzhou 350001 , China.
authors.forename: Pengli
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Falin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qiaowei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000073861:Apelin; D062186:Arterial Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D044466:Asian People; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: C115436:APLN protein, human; D000073861:Apelin; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins