Hypertension increases the global burden of disease and mortality. Iron metabolism is considered to be an important factor in hypertension. However, as an indicator of iron metabolism, little is known about the associations of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) with hypertension. We studied the relationship between sTfR and hypertension.
We studied 7,416 adults aged 20 years old or above from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative, cross-sectional, population-based study. Weighted logistic regression was used to examine the association between markers of iron metabolism and hypertension. The restricted cubic spline (RCS) was used to characterize the association between sTfR and blood pressure.
Weighted logistic regression showed that higher sTfR level was associated with higher odds of hypertension (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01–1.05;
Soluble transferrin receptor was found to be an independent factor in systolic hypertension. And, a non-linear relationship between sTfR and systolic blood pressure was discovered.