High levels of high-sensitivity C reactive protein to albumin ratio can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

Background The high levels of C reactive protein (CRP) to albumin ratio (CAR) is thought to increase the risk of poor outcomes for cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between CAR and CVD in the Chinese community population has not been investigated. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the association between CAR and CVD in the Chinese community population. Methods A total of 62 067 participants without a history of CVD or cancer were included in this study. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to calculate the cumulative incidence of endpoint events in CAR quartile groups, and the results were tested by log-rank test. Fine-Gray model was used to analyse the competing risk of death. C-index, Net Reclassification Index (NRI) and Integrated Discrimination Improvement Index (IDI) of different indicators were calculated to distinguish the predictive performance of different indicators. Results During an average follow-up period of 10.3±2.1 years, 4025 participants developed CVD. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, compared with Q1 group, model 3 showed that the hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval (95%CI)) of CVD in Q4 group was 1.26 (1.15 to 1.38) (p<0.01), and the HR (95% CI) per 1 SD increase was 1.06 (1.03 to 1.08) (p<0.01). The C-index, continuous NRI and IDI for predicting 10-year CVD were 73.48%, 0.1366 (0.1049 to 0.1684) (p<0.01) and 0.0002 (0.0001 to 0.0004) (p<0.01), respectively, which were higher than those of hs-CRP (C-index:0.7344, NRI:0.0711, IDI: 0.0001) and albumin (C-index:0.7339, NRI: −0.0090, IDI: 0.0000). Conclusion High levels of CAR can increase the risk of CVD and the predictive performance of CAR for CVD is better than that of hs-CRP or albumin alone.