Abstract: Objective To investigate factors related to hypertension and their importance degrees in Kazakhs,from Altay city, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with different occupations (citizen, farmer, and nomad) for target hypertension prevention. Methods According to the proportions of three occupation populations, 1 668 Kazakhs aged 30 years or older were selected by random cluster sampling from 2012 to 2013, in Hongdun Town, Altay City, Xinjiang. Hypertension related factors were investigated. We used random forest model to explore the factors related to hypertension and their importance degrees in different occupational groups. Results 1 646 participants were included in this study. We ranked the importance of hypertension related factors by feature importance scores. The top five hypertension related factors were waist circumference,triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), body mass index (BMI), and age for citizen; age, LDL-C, total cholesterol (TC), TG, and waist circumference for farmer. Age, BMI, waist circumference, TC, and LDL-C for nomad (feature importance scores＞0.06). The prediction accuracy of random forest models of hypertension for citizen, farmer, and nomad were 0.82, 0.69, and 0.76, respectively. Conclusions In different occupational groups, obesity and blood lipids were related to hypertension in different degrees, so the target of hypertension prevention should be carried out for different occupational groups. With the process of urbanization, urban residents should be well informed to controlling central obesity.

Key words: Kazakhs, waist circumference, BMI, blood lipids, hypertension