Table 1.
Clinical characteristics by tertiles of C-reactive protein (mg/L) levels
| Variable | Tertile 1 <2.7 mg/L N=172 |
Tertile 2 2.7 to 10 mg/L N=169 |
Tertile 3 > 10 mg/L N=173 |
P value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean ± sd (years) | 65 ±14 | 65 ±15 | 71 ±17 | <0.001 |
| Women | 62 (36%) | 65 (38%) | 86 (50%) | 0.023 |
| Body mass index, mean ± sd (kg/m2) |
28± 5 | 30 ± 7 | 28± 7 | 0.539 |
| Hypertension | 108 (63%) | 107 (63%) | 129 (75%) | 0.029 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 112 (65%) | 103 (61%) | 107 (62%) | 0.702 |
| Current smoker | 35 (20%) | 47 (28%) | 31 (18%) | 0.584 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 20 (12%) | 44 (26%) | 54 (31%) | <0.001 |
| Killip class 2, 3 or 4 | 31 (18%) | 42 (25%) | 67 (39%) | <0.001 |
| Infection within 2 weeks prior | 7 (4%) | 18 (11%) | 77 (45%) | <0.001 |
| Comorbidity index | <0.001 | |||
| 0 | 88 (51%) | 42(35%) | 26 (15%) | |
| 1-2 | 57 (33%) | 65 (38%) | 62 (36%) | |
| ≥ 3 | 27 (16%) | 44 (26%) | 85 (49%) | |
| Electrocardiogram | ||||
| Inferior location | 64 (38%) | 60 (37%) | 59 (36%) | 0.629 |
| Presence of Q waves | 88 (56%) | 85 (57%) | 90 (59%) | 0.579 |
| ST elevation myocardial infarction |
49 (29%) | 45 (28%) | 32 (19%) | 0.039 |
| Biomarkers | ||||
| Time from symptoms to C- reactive protein measurements, median (25th- 75th percentile) |
6.3 (3.1-10.5) | 6.9 (2.8- 12.2) | 4.0 (0.7- 10.7) | 0.091 |
| Peak troponin, median (25th- 75th percentile) |
1.08(0.31-3.57) | 0.94 (0.30, 3.93) | 0.52 (0.18, 1.520) | 0.001 |
| Peak creatine kinase-MB, median (25th- 75th percentile) |
42 (11-135) | 31 (11-113) | 14 (7-30) | <0.001 |