Role of Blood Cytokine Levels and Adiposity in Myocardial Infarction Recurrence

Abstract

Risk factors for myocardial infarction (MI) are important as cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. In fact, approximately one third of adults having an MI will have another in six years. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of adiposity, measured by body mass index (BMI), sagittal diameter, and waist/hip ratio, and blood cytokine (IL-6, TNFα, and CRP) levels in MI recurrence. A secondary analysis of data from a cross sectional study to determine factors associated with MI recurrence was used. The study sampled 156 participants who had experienced MI events in the last 3 to 7 years. Age, sex, adiposity, and cytokine levels were examined in single and recurrent-MI groups. We also tested for correlations between the anthropometric measures for adiposity and blood cytokine levels. The results suggested that high sensitivity CRP blood serum levels were significantly higher in adults with recurrent-MI (ρ = 0.05). Of the three cytokines studied, only CRP had a significant correlation with the measures of adiposity. These results suggest that CRP elevation is associated with recurrent-MI, and that high adiposity is correlated with CRP blood serum levels. Despite this, the connection between adiposity and recurrent-MI was not significant.