Serum vitamin C concentration and hs-CRP level in middle-aged Japanese men and women.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between concentrations of serum vitamin C, a contributive factor to prevention of cardiovascular disease and levels of hs-CRP, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, in population-based samples of middle-aged men and women.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study.


RESULTS
The subjects were 778 men and 1404 women, aged 40-69 years, who participated in a cardiovascular risk survey in Kyowa, Ibaraki prefecture in 2002 as part of the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS). Inverse associations between serum vitamin C concentrations and hs-CRP levels were established for both men and women. Multivariable-adjusted mean values of hs-CRP for the lowest to highest quintiles of vitamin C levels were 0.75, 0.65, 0.61, 0.61 and 0.47 mg/L (P for trend <0.001) for men, and 0.56, 0.51, 0.49, 0.41 and 0.41 mg/L (P for trend <0.001) for women. The inverse association between vitamin C and hs-CRP was stronger for non-smoking men and women, non-overweight women and postmenopausal women.


CONCLUSIONS
Serum vitamin C concentrations were found to be inversely associated with hs-CRP levels in both men and women, primarily among non-smokers, non-overweight women and postmenopausal women. The respective roles of serum vitamin C and hs-CRP levels in the development of cardiovascular disease thus warrant further investigation.
Kubota
Yoshimi
Y
Public Health, Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Moriyama
Yuri
Y
Yamagishi
Kazumasa
K
Tanigawa
Takeshi
T
Noda
Hiroyuki
H
Yokota
Kimiko
K
Harada
Mitiko
M
Inagawa
Mieko
M
Oshima
Miyuki
M
Sato
Shinichi
S
Iso
Hiroyasu
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors
D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D001205:Ascorbic Acid