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Serum C-reactive protein level and prehypertension in two Asian populations

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 27, pages 231–236 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Few previous studies in Western populations have reported an association between C-reactive protein (CRP) and prehypertension. However, no previous study has examined this association in Asians. We examined individuals who were free of hypertension from two independent population-based studies in Singapore: the Singapore Prospective Study Programme (SP2, n=2843 Chinese, Malay and Indians aged ⩾24 years) and the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES, n=957 Malays, aged 40–80 years). Prehypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (BP) 120–139 mm Hg or diastolic BP 80–89 mm Hg. CRP was analyzed as categories (<1, 1–3, >3 mg l−1). The prevalence of prehypertension increased with increasing categories of CRP in both cohorts (P for trend <0.05 in both cohorts). After adjusting for potential confounders including body mass index (BMI), smoking and diabetes, persons with higher levels of CRP were more likely to have prehypertension in both SP2 (compared with CRP <1 mg l−1, odds ratio (OR) 1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.48 for CRP 1–3 and OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.32–2.10 for >3 mg l−1) and SiMES (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.04–2.01 and OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.07–2.27) respectively. In conclusion, data from two population-based Asian cohorts suggest that elevated serum CRP levels are associated with prehypertension.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff and participants in the Singapore Malay Eye Study (SiMES), Singapore Prospective Study Program (SP2) and the Singapore Cardiovascular Cohort Study (SCCS2) for their important contributions. We also thank Sita Kalidindi, Department of Statistics, West Virginia University, for her help with the graph. SP2/SCCS2 was supported by the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) Grants No. 03/1/27/18/216 and 08/1/35/19/550 and National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Grant No. 0838/2004 and the Singapore Bio Imaging Consortium (C-011/2006). SiMES was funded by the NMRC Grant No. 0796/2003 and the BMRC Grant No. 501/1/25-5, with support from the SP2 and the Singapore Tissue Network, A*STAR. CRP measurements were supported by NMRC/CSI/0002/2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV, USA

    C Sabanayagam & A Shankar

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    J Lee

  3. Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore

    C Sabanayagam & T Y Wong

  4. Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    T Y Wong

  5. Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    E S Tai

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Correspondence to C Sabanayagam.

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Sabanayagam, C., Shankar, A., Lee, J. et al. Serum C-reactive protein level and prehypertension in two Asian populations. J Hum Hypertens 27, 231–236 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2011.117

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