Table 2.

Cardiovascular risk factors in relation to inflammatory biomarkers

	IL-6 (n = 344)		CRP (n = 928)		MMP-9 (n = 903)
	β	p	β	p	β	p
Sex (women vs. men)	−0.36	0.040	0.35	0.002	−7.38	<0.001
Age (5-year categories)	0.28	<0.001	0.14	0.007	−0.56	0.294
Lifestyle factors
Smoking (yes/no)	0.50	0.031	0.55	0.002	12.87	<0.001
Alcohol intake (three categories)	0.32	0.023	−0.13	0.059	1.82	0.025
Fruit/vegetable intake (three categories)	0.10	0.544	−0.01	0.935	−3.90	0.006
Physical activity (three categories)	−0.43	0.029	−0.54	<0.001	−8.24	<0.001
Physical factors
BMI (three categories)	0.64	<0.001	0.89	<0.001	3.67	<0.001
SBP (SD 20 mm Hg)	0.25	0.005	0.25	<0.001	2.70	0.001
DBP (SD 11 mm Hg)	0.21	0.010	0.27	<0.001	2.19	0.004
LDL cholesterol (SD 0.87 mmol/L)	−0.17	0.070	−0.03	0.615	1.0	0.185
HDL cholesterol (SD 0.36 mmol/L)	−0.37	<0.001	−0.46	<0.001	−3.4	<0.001
Glucose (SD 1.2 mmol/L)	0.25	0.006	0.27	<0.001	0.56	0.461
Inflammatory medical conditiona	0.53	0.022	0.36	0.029	4.70	0.013
Biomarkers
IL-6 (pg/mL)	–	n.a.	0.89	<0.001	4.95	0.001
CRP (mg/L)	0.61	<0.001	–	n.a.	7.74	<0.001
MMP-9 (ng/mL)	0.51	<0.001	0.51	<0.001	–	n.a.

Regressions adjusted for age and sex. Βeta coefficient expressed as an increase of circulating levels per dichotomy, category, or SD increment

^aDefined a priori as participants diagnosed with ACS, angina pectoris, stroke, COPD, cancer, asthma, allergy, peptic ulcer, rheumatic disease, fibromyalgia, and herniated disks at baseline