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Usefulness of Uric Acid to Predict Changes in C-Reactive Protein and Interleukin-6 in 3-Year Period in Italians Aged 21 to 98 Years

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2007.02.065Get rights and content

The role of uric acid (UA) in the process of atherothrombosis is controversial. Although serum UA has powerful antioxidant properties, epidemiological studies showed that UA was a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and was positively associated with proinflammatory markers. Relations between baseline UA and changes in UA circulating levels with C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) after 3 years of follow-up in a cohort of 892 Italian men and women aged 21 to 98 years was investigated. Subjects had complete baseline and follow-up data for UA, inflammatory markers, and covariates. An autoregressive approach was used to study such a relation. In adjusted analyses, baseline UA and changes in UA predicted a 3-year change in CRP (p = 0.028), but not IL-6 (p = 0.101). The relation between UA and CRP persisted after adjustment for baseline IL-6. Subjects with high UA at baseline had a progressively higher probability of developing clinically relevant increased IL-6 (>2.5 pg/ml) and CRP (>3 mg/L) during 3 years. In conclusion, our study suggests that in a population-based cohort, baseline UA and changes in circulating UA during 3 years of follow-up predict changes in circulating CRP independent of relevant confounders, including baseline IL-6.

Section snippets

Methods

The Invecchiare in Chianti; aging in the Chianti area (InCHIANTI) Study was an epidemiological study conducted on a representative sample of the population living in 2 Italian towns located in the Tuscany region of Italy. The study was developed to investigate factors affecting mobility in late life. The rationale, design, and data collection are described elsewhere.15 The study protocol complied with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Italian National

Results

Baseline characteristics of study subjects for the entire sample and stratified by category of change in IL-6 and CRP between baseline and follow-up are listed in Table 1. Most associations were similar regardless of whether categories were defined based on IL-6 or CRP. Compared with subjects with persistently low or remitted inflammation (follow-up IL-6 ≤2.5 pg/ml or CRP ≤3 mg/L regardless of baseline values), those with increased inflammation (IL-6 baseline ≤2.5 pg/ml and follow-up >2.5; CRP

Discussion

Using data collected in the context of an epidemiological study performed in a population-based sample, we evaluated whether UA circulating levels predict IL-6 and CRP circulating levels during 3 years of follow-up. Independent of baseline inflammatory markers and relevant confounders, baseline UA and changes in UA from baseline to follow-up were significant predictors of CRP changes during a 3-year follow-up. Baseline UA and changes in UA from baseline to follow-up were also independent

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    The InCHIANTI Study was supported as a “targeted project” (ICS 110.1/RS97.71) by the Italian Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy; Contracts No. N01-AG-916413 and N01-AG-821336 from the US National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland; and Contracts No. 263 MD 9164 13 and 263 MD 821336 from the Intramural Research Program of the US National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland. None of the sponsoring institutions interfered with the collection, analysis, presentation, or interpretation of the data reported here.

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