Following the publication of this article, the authors have realized that an error was made with the description of the first and fourth listed affiliation addresses: "North China University of Science and of Technology", should have been written as "North China University of Science and Technology". This error also affected the Correspondence box information. Therefore, the author affiliations and addresses, and the Corresponding author information, in this paper should have appeared as follows: Zheng Bao1,2, Jinqi Hao3, Yuhong li1 and Fumin Feng1,4; 1School of Public Health, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei 063210; 2Child Health Division, Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Beijing, Beijing 101101; 3School of Public Health, BaoTou Medical College, Baotou, Neimenggu 014040; 4Center‑Laboratory, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei 063210, P.R. China. Correspondence to: Dr Fumin Feng, Center‑Laboratory, North China University of Science and Technology, 21 Bohai Road, Tangshan, Hebei 063210, P.R. China. E‑mail: hblgffm@126.com; The authors regret this error in the presentation of these addresses, and apologize for any inconvenience caused. [the original article was published in Molecular Medicine Reports 20: 5190‑5196, 2019; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2019.10788].