Association between human blood metabolome and the risk of hypertension

Abstract

Hypertension, commonly referred to as high blood pressure, is a chronic medical condition characterized by persistently elevated blood pressure levels. It is a prevalent global health issue, affecting a significant portion of the population worldwide. Hypertension is often asymptomatic, making it a silent but potentially dangerous condition if left untreated. Genetic instruments for 1,091 were from a recent comprehensive metabolome genome-wide association study (GWAS). Summary statistics of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) involving 757,601 sample size were analyzed. Two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) was conducted to assess causal effect of metabolites on DBP and SBP risk, and reverse MR analysis was performed to identify the DBP/SBP causal effect on blood metabolites. Twelve and twenty-two metabolites were identified to be associated with DBP and SBP, respectively. Sensitive analysis showed four metabolites had robustness association on BP. Reverse MR demonstrated DBP and SBP could decrease the tricosanoyl sphingomyelin (d18:1/23:0)* level and increase the 2-hydroxyhippurate (salicylurate) level in blood, respectively. Our findings reveal an association between blood metabolites and blood pressure (DBP and SBP), suggesting potential therapeutic targets for hypertension intervention.