Impact of inflammation markers on cardiovascular mortality and comparison to classical/established cardiovascular risk markers. Relative risk (RR) for all coronary heart disease mortality in correlation with markers of inflammation interleukin (IL)-6, IL-18, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L or CD154) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α obtained by meta-analysis with adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, adiposity markers, blood pressure and/or lipid markers (number of cases as indicated). Inflammatory risk markers were compared to classical cardiovascular risk markers such as hsCRP, systolic blood pressure (BP), low density lipoprotein (LDL, measured as non-HDL-C) and N-terminal fragment of natriuretic peptide type B (NT proBNP). The classical risk markers are all below the red line. Risk increases are shown per 1-SD changes of cytokines and classical cardiovascular risk markers. * indicates significant differences to control group. Redrawn from tabular data in [14] for inflammation markers, [17,18] for hsCRP/systolic BP/LDL (measured as non-HDL-C) and [19] for NT proBNP.