Inflammatory markers and clustered cardiovascular disease risk factors in Danish adolescents

To evaluate the associations between inflammatory markers and clustering of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, and to examine how inflammatory markers and CVD risk are related to fatness and cardiorespiratory fitness (VO(2peak)) in adolescents.

Body mass and height, skinfolds and blood pressure of 413 adolescents (mean age 13.4 ± 0.3 years) were measured. Circulating fasting levels of glucose, insulin, lipids, adiponectin, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α, soluble TNF receptor-1 (sTNFR1), interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) were measured. VO(2peak) was measured in progressive tests to exhaustion. CVD risk was expressed as a clustered z-score, summing standardized values of individual risk factors.

The clustered z-score was negatively associated with adiponectin and positively associated with CRP, IL-6 and TNFα (all p values <0.05). The associations with adiponectin, CRP and IL-6 were stronger for the fattest adolescents. VO(2peak) was negatively correlated with clustered z-score, adiponectin and IL-6 and positively related to systolic blood pressure. The sum of four skinfolds was inversely related to adiponectin and positively correlated to body mass index, systolic blood pressure, homeostasis model assessment, clustered z-score and CRP.

In adolescents, CVD risk was associated with alternations in adiponectin, TNFα, CRP and IL-6, and related to both VO(2peak) and fatness.