C-reactive protein and its associations with сardiometabolic risk factors and echocardiographic indicators of heart failure: results of “Know your heart” study in Arkhangelsk

Aim To evaluate the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and echocardiographic (EchoCG) indicators of heart failure (HF) among adult population of the North region of Russia.
Material and methods The Know Your Heart transversal study was performed in 2015–2017 on a random sample of adult population of Arkhangelsk aged 35–69 years (n=2381). The exclusion criterion for this study was a concentration of hsCRP >10 mg/l. The group of subclinical inflammation included 686 participants with hsCRP ≥2.0 mg/l; the comparison group consisted of 1158 participants with hsCRP <2.0 mg/l. Analysis included cardiometabolic risk factors, EchoCG indexes of left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function and biomarkers (NT-proBNP, hsTroponin Т, cystatin С). Linear and logistic regressions were used.
Results The group with hsCRP ≥2.0 mg/l had higher rates of arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, HF, and myocardial infarction in history than the comparison group. The hsCRP level was independently associated with waist circumference (β=0.379, p <0.001), male gender (β=–0.135, p<0.001), smoking (β=0.109, p<0.001), triglycerides (β=0.083, p<0.001), diastolic blood pressure (β=0.082, p<0.001), cystatin C (β=0.082, p<0.001), glycated hemoglobin (β=0.064, p=0.003), and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) (β=0.049, p=0.025). Independent predictors of subclinical inflammation included older age, smoking, abdominal obesity, elevated values of LDL (>3.0 mmol/l), triglycerides (>1.7 mmol/l), and cystatin C (>1.2 mg/l). hsCRP was independently negatively associated with LV ejection fraction, left atrial volume index, ratio of early to late LV diastolic filling velocity (p=0.003, p=0.002, p=0.005, respectively), which reflected the relationship of the increased content of hsCRP with impairment of LV systolic and diastolic function. A relationship between heart remodeling indexes and hsCRP concentration was shown.
Conclusion In a sample of adult population from the North region of Russia, the hsCRP concentration was independently associated with cardiometabolic risk factors and structural and functional changes in the heart detected by EchoCG, which reflects a potential contribution of inflammation to heart remodeling and development of HF.

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