Abstract
Background: There has been no comprehensive study on how high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels, a biomarker of inflammation, are associated with subsequent diagnoses of various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Asians. Our study is the first to do so to better compare these associations in an Asian population.
Methods: This is a nationwide longitudinal study of 3,410 male and 4,004 female participants of the RAND Indonesian Family Life Survey with a mean age of 42.4 years, to examine associations between increasing hs-CRP levels and risks of heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, non-cancerous stomach or other digestive diseases, and non-cancerous kidney diseases. We used unadjusted and confounding-adjusted weighted Poisson regression models to respectively examine associations involving hs-CRP as a risk predictor or indicator of chronic inflammation. Several stratified subpopulation analyses were also performed.
Results: Increasing hs-CRP levels predicted significantly higher risks of being diagnosed with all of the studied NCDs except stomach or other digestive diseases. After adjusting for confounding, increasing hs-CRP levels were significantly associated with higher risks of diabetes, heart diseases, hypertension, and kidney diseases.
Conclusions: Our comprehensive findings on the associations between hs-CRP levels and risks of several NCDs in Asians may have clinical implications and promote additional studies on this topic.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).