Levels of high‑sensitivity C‑reactive protein in young and middle‑aged individuals and their association with hypertension

Background. Chronic systemic inflammation plays a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease. However, the causal relationship between inflammation and arterial hypertension (AH) is not fully determined.
Objective. To assess the levels of high-sensitivity С-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in young and middle-aged individuals and their association with АН.
Materials and methods. The study involved 427 patients aged 30 to 55 years (41 [35; 48] years) undergoing a periodic medical examination on the basis of Gazprom Transgaz Moscow’s Centre for Diagnostics and Rehabilitation from November 2018 to February 2020. 169 patients were evaluated in dynamics after a year. Patients with acute inflammatory disease or chronic exacerbation, taking hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, hormone replacement therapy were excluded from the study. The hs-CRP level was determined by an immunoturbodimetric method with latex gain, with a lower detection limit of 0.1 mg/l. Statistical processing of the results was carried out in Statistica 10 program. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.
Results. Among young and middle-aged individuals increase in the level of hs-CRP ≥ 2 mg/l was found in 26.9 % of participants of the research. Protein concentrations were most significantly associated with body mass index (r = 0.53; p < 0.05) and systolic blood pressure (r = 0.28; p < 0.05). Persons with hs-CRP ≥ 2 mg/l had a frequency of identification of AH above, then at persons with normal levels of a marker (65.2 against 40.1 %; р = 0.000004). There was a statistically significant association between an increase in the level of hs-CRP and hypertension (OR = 2.8; 95 % CI: 1.8–4.4; p = 0.000004).
Conclusions. The findings indicate that elevated hs-CRP levels are associated with AH in young and middle-aged individuals, and also suggest that chronic systemic inflammation is an independent contributor to the development of AH.

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