Relative Telomere Length in Peripheral Blood Cells and Hypertension Risk among Mine Workers: A Case-Control Study in Chinese Coal Miners

Table 1

Characteristics of the participants with and without hypertension.

Characteristics	Case ()	Control ()		value
Age			0.969	0.809
≤30	18 (8.4)	16 (7.2)
30~40	56 (26.0)	57 (25.7)
40~50	79 (36.7)	76 (34.2)
>50	62 (28.8)	73 (32.9)
Gender			0.002	0.960
Male	194 (90.2)	200 (90.1)
Female	21 (9.8)	22 (9.9)
Education			3.787	0.285
College or higher	16 (7.4)	28 (12.6)
Senior middle school	135 (62.8)	131 (59.0)
Junior middle school	54 (25.1)	56 (25.2)
Primary school and less than primary school	10 (4.7)	7 (3.2)
Work type			3.397	0.183
Hard physical labour	52 (24.2)	71 (32.0)
Light physical labour	113 (52.6)	102 (45.9)
Nonphysical labour	50 (23.3)	49 (22.1)
Work duration			16.018	0.007
≤1 year	5 (2.3)	6 (2.7)
2~ years	18 (8.4)	21 (9.5)
4~ years	36 (16.7)	70 (31.5)
11~ years	27 (12.6)	26 (11.7)
16~ years	28 (13.0)	27 (12.2)
≥21 years	101 (47.0)	72 (32.4)
Workplace			3.844	0.279
Underground	52 (24.2)	71 (32.0)
Underground auxiliary	68 (31.6)	69 (31.1)
Ground	55 (25.6)	46 (20.7)
Office workers	40 (18.6)	36 (16.2)
BMI			34.569	<0.001
<18.5	1 (0.5)	11 (5.0)
18.5~24	55 (25.6)	94 (42.3)
24~28	95 (44.2)	91 (41.0)
≥28	64 (29.8)	26 (11.7)
Alcohol consumption			17.628	<0.001
No	111 (51.6)	158 (71.2)
Yes	104 (48.4)	64 (28.8)
Current smoking			9.141	0.002
No	89 (41.4)	124 (55.9)
Yes	126 (58.6)	98 (44.1)
Tea consumption			0.192	0.661
No	138 (64.2)	138 (62.2)
Yes	77 (35.8)	84 (37.8)
RTL			10.685	0.005
<0.57927	66 (30.7)	44 (19.8)
0.57927~1.45126	91 (42.3)	127 (57.2)
>1.45126	58 (27.0)	51 (23.0)

and the difference is statistically significant. Abbreviations: RTL: relative telomere length; BMI: body mass index.