Association of cytomegalovirus infection with hypertension risk: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Information regarding association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and essential hypertension (EH) risk is not consistent across studies. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the association in detail. METHODS: We comprehensively searched the published literature from the PubMed and Embase databases for any study analyzing the association between CMV and EH risk. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95 % confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Three studies involving 9657 patients were included in the meta-analysis, and the results showed a significantly increased risk of EH in patients with CMV infection. Overall, 79.3 % of the hypertension patients were CMV-positive, which was significantly higher than the percentage for controls (OR = 1.39, 95 % CI = 0.95-2.05, P = 0.017). There was significant heterogeneity among the studies included (I(2) = 70.5 %). The funnel plot and Egger's test also indicated no publication bias. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a significant association between CMV and EH, which indicates that CMV infection is a possible cause of EH.