title: [Association between hypertension and serum microRNA21 and microRNA133a in ocean seamen].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of hypertension in ocean seamen and major influencing factors, as well as the association between hypertension and serum microRNA21 and microRNA133a.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health examination and a questionnaire survey were performed for 780 ocean seamen who underwent physical examination in an international travel healthcare center in Fujian, China from January to June, 2014. TaqMan RT-qPCR was used to measure the serum levels of microRNA21 and microRNA133a in seamen with hypertension.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of hypertension differed significantly between the ocean seamen with different ages, education levels, marital status, body mass index (BMI) values, drinking frequencies, and numbers of sailing years (P<0.05). The prevalence rate of hypertension in the ocean seamen increased with the increasing drinking frequency (χ(2)=9.02, P<0.05) , decreased with the increase in degree of education (χ(2)=11.578, P<0.05) , and increased with the increase in the number of sailing years (χ(2)=28.06, P<0.05). The hypertensive ocean seamen had significantly higher expression levels of microRNA21 and MicroRNA133a than the healthy ocean seamen (microRNA21: 7.87±5.46 vs 1.03±0.80, P<0.05; MicroRNA133a: 7.45±1.94 vs 4.52±1.15, P<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that a high level of microRNA21 (OR=1.61, 95% CI: 1.22~2.11) , a high level of microRNA133a (OR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.24~1.87) , drinking (OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.08~2.50) , overweight based on BMI (OR=1.18, 95%CI: 1.07~1.30) , and many sailing years (OR=2.89, 95% CI: 1.14~7.30) were risk factors for hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevention and treatment of hypertension in ocean seamen should be enhanced. Excessive drinking should be controlled, and sailing time should be arranged reasonably. The microRNA21 and microRNA133a may be associated with the development and progression of hypertension in ocean seamen.
authors: School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
authors: J B
authors: JB
authors: Lin
authors: W L
authors: WL
authors: Chai
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Zhang
authors: Y P
authors: YP
authors: Wang
authors: S W
authors: SW
authors: Lin
authors: H Y
authors: HY
authors: Li
authors: S Y
authors: SY
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension; D035683:MicroRNAs; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs