LOS ANGELES – The relationship between elevated C-reactive protein concentrations and increased all-cause mortality risk varies by gender and by race/ethnicity, an analysis of national data showed.
“Opportunities exist to discuss the importance of this marker and the relationship with mortality risk,” study author M. Ryan Richardson said in an interview following the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease. “Although we do not fully understand all of the mechanisms that underlie this harmful relationship, our results add to the limited evidence available to those working within the clinical setting.”
M. Ryan Richardson
A total of 4,383 adults between the ages of 30 and 79 years were included in the analysis. After the researchers adjusted for age, race, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, cardiovascular disease, waist circumference, and aerobic physical activity, they observed a significantly higher risk for all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic black males (hazard ratio, 2.04) and Mexican-American females (HR, 2.24). “We were surprised that this relationship was also independent of measured waist circumference and any volume of reported aerobic physical activity, which are both acknowledged as strong mediator variables in this relationship,” Mr. Richardson said. The HR in non-Hispanic white males approached but did not reach statistical significance (HR, 1.32).
He acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including its cross-sectional design. “We cannot make causal inferences based on this data,” he said.
The researchers reported having no financial disclosures.
SOURCE: M. Ryan Richardson et al.