Study participants and study protocol
HTN, inflammation, cancers, chronic diseases
INFLAMMATION, CANCERS, CHRONIC DISEASES, HTN
From July 2018 to June 2020, we recruited 205 subjects from our outpatient clinics at Honghui Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. All selected subjects were aged between 18 and 80 years old, and were able to provide written informed consent. Subjects with one of the following conditions were excluded: ① pregnant or lactating, or with chronic diseases including cancers, inflammation or surgical history in the alimentary tract, or serious systematic dysfunctions; ② taking any medications that may disrupt their original GM, such as fiber supplements, probiotics or prebiotics within 6 weeks, or antimicrobial drugs within 6 months before GM sampling [This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Honghui Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University (Protocol Number: 201801022, approved January 8th, 2018), and all subjects provided written informed consent before enrollment. HTN was diagnosed if systolic BP (SBP) ≥ 130 mmHg and/or diastolic BP (DBP) ≥ 80 mmHg; subjects with normal BP (SBP < 120 mmHg and DBP < 80 mmHg) served as controls [
Study flow diagram. 