J Korean Acad Fam Med.  2007 Nov;28(11):860-866.

The Relationship between Reduced Lung Function and High Sensitive C-reactive Protein in Healthy Adult Men

• Lee JU
• Paek YJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increased levels of systemic markers of inflammation have been reported in patients with impaired lung function with obstructive and restrictive lung diseases. We hypothesized that forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) within the normal range is inversely associated with high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), as a marker of chronic inflammation in healthy Korean adult men.
METHODS
We analyzed the association of hs-CRP with pulmonary function test including FEV(1), components of metabolic syndrome among male participants (n=3,736), more than 20 years old who had visited a health promotion center at a university hospital between January and December, 2006.
RESULTS
In this cross-sectional study, there was an inverse association between hs-CRP levels and quartiles of FEV(1) (P for trend<0.0001) after adjusting for age, smoking status, waist circumference, glucose, triglyceride, and HDL-cholesterol. A similar association was present in non-smoking subjects, but there was no significant trend (P for trend=0.115) whereas it was significant in smoking subjects (P for trend<0.0001), and in ex-smoking subjects (P for trend=0.006). The odds ratios of having elevated hs-CRP (>2.2 mg/L) across FEV(1) quartiles, with the lowest quartile (Q1) as the reference group was 1.01 (0.75~1.35) in Q2, 1.24 (0.93~1.65) in Q3, 1.52 (1.15~2.01) in Q4 after adjusting for the confounding variables.
CONCLUSION
The decline of FEV(1) within the normal range was inversely associated with low grade inflammation as measured by hs-CRP. This result showed that systemic inflammation may be linked to early impaired pulmonary function in healthy adult men.

Keyword

high sensitive C-reactive protein; forced expiratory volume; respiratory function tests; systemic inflammation; male

MeSH Terms

Adult*
C-Reactive Protein*
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)
Cross-Sectional Studies
Forced Expiratory Volume
Glucose
Health Promotion
Humans
Inflammation
Lung Diseases
Lung*
Male
Odds Ratio
Reference Values
Respiratory Function Tests
Smoke
Smoking
Triglycerides
Waist Circumference
Young Adult
C-Reactive Protein
Glucose
Smoke