Table 2. Bivariate associations of individual and area-level variables with hsCRP among adults aged 18–79 years (n = 6,768).

Characteristics	Categories of hsCRP			P value*	Geometric mean of hsCRP		P value**
	<1 mg/L %	1–3 mg/L %	>3 mg/L %		mg/L
Individual-level variables
Total	46.4	32.3	21.3		1.15
Sex				<0.001
Men	49.6	33.0	17.4		1.03		<0.001
Women	43.2	31.5	25.3		1.28
Age
18–29 years	58.7	23.6	17.7	<0.001	0.83		<0.001
30–44 years	54.0	28.2	17.8		0.94
45–64 years	42.3	35.5	22.3		1.30
65–79 years	31.6	40.4	28.0		1.65
Educational attainment (CASMIN)
Low	36.3	35.9	27.8	<0.001	1.47		<0.001
Middle	50.9	30.5	18.7		1.03
High	55.9	29.6	14.5		0.91
Smoking status
Never smoking	49.8	31.3	19.0	<0.001	1.06		<0.001
Former smoking	44.4	33.5	22.1		1.18
Occasional smoking	58.4	26.8	14.8		0.90
Daily smoking	39.8	34.0	26.2		1.35
Sports activity
<2h per week	42.7	33.8	23.5	<0.001	1.27		<0.001
Regularly, ≥2h per week	57.1	27.7	15.2		0.85
Abdominal obesity
No	57.5	28.0	14.5	<0.001	0.86		<0.001
Yes	24.3	40.8	35.0		2.06
Municipality-level variables
Population-weighted ambient PM10 concentration
<15 μg/m3	44.4	33.2	22.4	0.398	1.20		0.394
≥15-<20 μg/m3	46.6	33.0	20.4		1.13
≥20-<25 μg/m3	47.6	30.8	21.6		1.13
≥25 μg/m3	42.4	30.0	27.6		1.30
Social deprivation (GISD)
Low	47.9	31.9	20.2	0.044	1.09		<0.001
Middle	47.5	32.0	20.5		1.10
High	42.3	33.4	24.3		1.32

All results are weighted to represent the German residential population.

*P-values obtained from Rao-Scott chi-square test of independence with second order adjustment.

**P-values for change in mean log-transformed hsCRP values obtained from linear regression models.