Background: High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an inflammatory marker associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Health-related behaviors and factors decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease events, but the association between ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and hs-CRP is not clear. This study evaluated the relationship between the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics and hs-CRP levels.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study from 2006 to 2007 that included 93,967 healthy subjects and 7869 diabetic patients. hs-CRP was measured by high-sensitivity nephelometry. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to analyze the association between the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics and hs-CRP levels in the general population and in non-diabetic and diabetic subjects.
Results: We found that hs-CRP levels decreased as the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics increased in the general population, different genders, non-diabetic and diabetic subgroups. After adjusting for traditional risk factors, logistic regression analyses revealed that the risk of hs-CRP >3 mg/L in the general population with 6-7 ideal cardiovascular health metrics was 0.39 times lower than in those with 0-1 ideal metrics. Similarly, the risks were 0.39 times lower than in those with 0-1 ideal metrics in non-diabetic population. The risk of hs-CRP >3 mg/L in the diabetic population with 4-6 ideal cardiovascular health metrics was 0.45 times lower than those with 0-1 ideal metrics.
Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate an inverse relationship between the number of ideal health metrics and hs-CRP in the general population, and similar relationships were observed for different gender, non-diabetic and diabetic subgroups.