Essential hypertension in patients exposed to high-arsenic exposed areas in western China: Genetic susceptibility and urinary arsenic metabolism characteristics.

Objective: To clarify the urinary arsenic metabolism characteristics in individuals with essential hypertension and to analyze the relationship between lipid metabolism gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to essential hypertension in individuals in high-arsenic areas in western China.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted and involved individuals exposed to high arsenic levels (in this study, the arsenic content in the pressurized well water was 0-510.2 μg/L, and that in the mechanical well water was 167 μg/L) in two adjacent high-arsenic areas in Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. A total of 699 samples were collected, including 192 case samples (patients with hypertension) and 507 control samples (no hypertension). Blood pressure measurement data obtained from an epidemiological survey were used to determine whether the subjects had hypertension, and a logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between lipid metabolism gene polymorphisms and hypertension susceptibility. Blood and urine samples were collected based on epidemiological methods, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped using a SNPscan™ multiple SNP typing kit, and urinary arsenic concentrations were determined using the hydride generation atomic fluorescence method (HG-AFS).

Results: ADIPOQ/rs266729 was the dominant genetic model [(GC + GG) vs CC = 0.686:1, 95 % CI = 0.478-0.983], and FABP2/rs1799883 was the recessive genetic model [TT vs (CC + TC) = 1.690:1, 95 % CI = 1.014-2.816]. The distribution of the urinary arsenic secondary methylation ratio (SMR) [dimethylated arsenic (DMA)/monomethylated arsenic (MMA)] was different between hypertensive patients and controls.

Conclusion: ADIPOQ/rs266729 and FABP2/rs1799883 polymorphisms affect susceptibility to essential hypertension in individuals exposed to high levels of arsenic; there was a clear difference in the urinary arsenic metabolism pattern between hypertensive patients and controls.