Association between smoking and serum GlycA and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

Background--inflammation is suggested to be a central feature of atherosclerosis,particularly among smokers. we studied whether inflammatory biomarkers glyca and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein are associated with cigarette smoking. methods and results--a total of 11 509 participants,6774 from the mesa (multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis) and 4735 from elsa-brasil (the brazilian longitudinal study of adult health) were included. we evaluated the cross-sectional association between multiple measures of smoking behavior and the inflammatory biomarkers,glyca and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein,using regression models adjusted for demographic,anthropometric,and clinical characteristics. participants were 57.7±11.1 years old and 46.4% were men. never,former,and current smokers comprised 51.7%,34.0%,and 14.3% of the population,respectively. multivariable-adjusted mean absolute difference in glyca levels (μmol/l) with 95% confidence interval (ci) were higher for former (4.1,95% ci,1.7-6.6 μmol/l) and current smokers (19.9,95% ci,16.6-23.2 μmol/l),compared with never smokers. each 5-unit increase in pack-years of smoking was associated with higher glyca levels among former (0.7,95% ci,0.3-1.1 μmol/l) and current smokers (1.6,95% ci,0.8-2.4 μmol/l). among former smokers,each 5-year increase in time since quitting smoking was associated with lower glyca levels (-1.6,95% ci,-2.4 to -0.8 μmol/l) and each 10-unit increase in number of cigarettes/day was associated with higher glyca among current smokers (2.8,95% ci,0.5-5.2 μmol/l). there were similar significant associations between all measures of smoking behavior,and both log-transformed glyca and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein. conclusions--acute and chronic exposure to tobacco smoking is associated with inflammation,as quantified by both glyca and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein. these biomarkers may have utility for the study and regulation of novel and traditional tobacco products. © 2017 the authors and medtronic.