Systemic Inflammation and Viral Exposure among Young Mexican American Women: Nativity-Related Differences

Factors contributing to elevated inflammation in racial/ethnic minority populations are not well understood. We examined the association of viral exposure with C-reactive protein (CRP) in young Mexican American women.

Participants (N=1,141) were currently non-pregnant women of Mexican background, aged 18-39 years, from the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2010. Viral exposure was defined as seropositive status for hepatitis B, and herpes simplex types 1 and 2, and classified as seronegative, seropositive for any one agent, and seropositive for 2 or 3 agents. The association of viral exposure with elevated CRP (3.01-10.00 mg/L) varied by country of birth (P=.001). Among Mexico-born women, those seropositive for 2 or 3 agents had 3.79 times (95% CI: 1.28-11.27) and those seropositive for any one agent 2.56 times (95% CI: 1.12-5.86) the odds of elevated CRP compared with seronegative women, after adjustment for age, country of birth, household density, waist circumference, glycated hemoglobin, and total cholesterol. Among US-born women, the corresponding odds were OR: .32, 95% CI: .12-.86 and OR: .71, 95% CI .43-1.17.

In Mexico-born Mexican American women, viral exposure is associated with higher odds of elevated CRP.