Alteration of Gut Microbiota Relates to Metabolic Disorders in Primary Aldosteronism Patients

This study aimed to determine the relationships among gut microbiota, primary aldosteronism (PA), and related metabolic disorders. The study enrolled 13 PA patients, 26 sex-matched primary hypertension patients, and 26 sex-matched healthy controls. Demographic and clinical characteristics such as age, body mass index (BMI), blood aldosterone-renin ratio, blood potassium, blood glucose, blood lipid parameters, and history of diabetes mellitus (DM) were compared between the three groups. The gut microbiota of each participant was examined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to demonstrate the relationship between gut microbiota and clinical characteristics. BMI and the percentage of DM in PA patients were higher than those in healthy controls ( 0.05). The gut microbiota of healthy controls and primary hypertension patients had a higher alpha diversity level than that of PA patients. PA patients had fewer short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing genera ( , , , , and ) and more inflammation-associated genera ( , , and ) than healthy controls (