title: Number of children is associated with plasma CRP levels.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase serum protein produced by the liver. High plasma levels of CRP have been associated primarily with infection, but elevated CRP levels have also been found to be associated with more than one hundred conditions and factors, including social and economic factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  To evaluate the possible association between individuals' number of children and plasma levels of C-reactive protein, we studied a representative population of 2,426 adults. CRP was analyzed using the high sensitivity method (hsCRP). Individuals were divided into five groups of zero, one, two, three and four and more children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that individuals with more children had significantly higher levels of plasma hsCRP than individuals without children or than individuals with a low number of children (p for trend <0.001). This association could reflect the known associations between CRP and higher economic stress, exhaustion, episodic stress and chronic stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found significantly elevated levels of plasma CRP in individuals with more children than in individuals without children or with a low number of children.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. jahb@ikem.cz
authors.forename: Jaroslav A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hubáček
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Králová-Lesná
authors.forename: Věra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lánská
authors.forename: Zdena
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Škodová
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005221:Fatigue / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009391:Nephelometry and Turbidimetry; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein