Abstract: Objective To explore the association between essential hypertension and serum ferritin and lay a foundation for etiological study of hypertension.Methods The population of Heilongjiang Newspaper Office were selected as subjects to conduct case-control study(case:76;control:76).All subjects were interviewed with questionnaire and measured for blood pressure,stature,weight,waist circumference,hip circumference and investigated for risk factors of life style(smoking and drinking).Blood specimens were collected for detecting serum lipid,fasting plasma glucose,serum ferritin.All data were analyzed with SAS 911 software.Results There was no significant difference for age and gender between the hypertensives and normotensives(P>0.05).The exposed proportion of alcohol drinking and smoking had no significant difference in two groups.The average levels of TG,LDL-c in hypertensives were higher than those in the normotensives.Both the body mass index(BMI)and ratio of waist to hip circumference(WHR)were significantly higher in the hypertensives than those in the normotensives(P<0.01).The level of fasting plasma glucose(FPG)were higher in the hypertensives than those in the normotensives.Data from univariate analysis showed serum ferritin was related to essential hypertension,systolic hypertension and diastolic hypertension,ORs were 3.41,2.40,2.57 respectively.After adjusting for confounding factors by logistic regression,serum ferritin was still associated with essential hypertension and diastolic hypertension,ORs were 2.54,2.49 respectively,but not with systolic hypertension.Conclusion The study confirmed that serum ferritin was related to essential hypertension and diastolic hypertension,but not systolic hypertension.