title: Age as a modulator of inflammatory cardiovascular risk factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Levels of acute phase reactants are affected by age. The extent to which cardiovascular risk associated with aging is due to an increase in the inflammatory burden is not known. We assessed the relationship with age of inflammatory markers, representing (1) systemic (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and serum amyloid-A) and (2) vascular (lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) and pentraxin-3) inflammation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We determined lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) mass and activity, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, serum amyloid-A, and pentraxin-3 levels and other cardiovascular disease risk factors in 336 whites and 224 African Americans. Levels of systemic inflammatory markers increased significantly with age in both ethnic groups (P<0.05 for all), whereas trend patterns of vascular inflammatory markers did not change significantly with age for either group. In multivariate regression models adjusting for confounding variables, age remained independently associated with a composite Z score for systemic but not vascular inflammation (β=0.250, P<0.001, and β=0.276, P<0.001, for whites and African Americans, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report an increase in the systemic but not vascular inflammatory burden with age. Levels of both categories of inflammatory markers with age were similar across ethnicity after adjustment for confounders. Our results underscore the importance of age in evaluating inflammatory markers to assess cardiovascular risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Erdembileg
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anuurad
authors.forename: Byambaa
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Enkhmaa
authors.forename: Zeynep
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gungor
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Russell P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Tracy
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: Kyoungmi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Berglund
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054467:Phospholipases A2 / Q000378:metabolism; D012307:Risk Factors; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein / Q000032:analysis; D000683:Serum Amyloid P-Component / Q000032:analysis; D044465:White People; D000099153:Pentraxins
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D005340:Fibrinogen; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein; D000683:Serum Amyloid P-Component; D000099153:Pentraxins