BMC Medical Genetics (Dec 2018)

Association of glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphism and occupational stress with hypertension in desert petroleum workers in Xinjiang, China

  • Ning Tao,
  • Hua Ge,
  • Wenfeng Wu,
  • Hengqing An,
  • Jiwen Liu,
  • Xinjuan Xu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12881-018-0688-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate the occupational stress and hypertension in desert petroleum workers in Xinjiang, and to analyze the association of occupational stress and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene polymorphism with the presence of hypertension. Methods Using cluster sampling, 1280 desert petroleum workers of 3 petroleum fields in Xinjiang Karamay were randomly selected as the target group for this study. According to the inclusion criteria, a total of 1080 workers were included as the baseline for this study. We followed these workers for 2 years to investigate their occupational stress and hypertension. The polymorphism of GR gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. We applied appropriate statistical methods to analyze the association of occupational stress and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene polymorphism with the presence of hypertension. Results After 2 years of follow-up, there were 995 desert petroleum workers in the queue. The study showed that the incidence of hypertension in desert petroleum workers were 19.4%. Compared with the baseline data, the level of occupational stress increased, and with the increase of occupational stress, the incidence of hypertension was gradually increasing. A positive relationship was observed in the GR BCL1 gene polymorphisms and hypertension. Relative to the CC genotype, carries of the GG genotype had a significantly higher risk of hypertension (OR = 2.830). With the combination of genotype CG and GG, carries of CG and GG increased the risk of hypertension (adjusted OR = 2.238, 95%CI:1.104–4.940). There was no significant association between GR G678S gene polymorphisms and hypertension. Conclusion GR gene polymorphism and occupational stress of desert petroleum workers were important risk factors for hypertension.

Keywords