Abstract 613: Demographic and social patterns of average values of inflammatory markers in U.S. adults: 2010-2017 NHANES analysis
Authors: Haq Raisa , Calixte Rose , Camacho-Rivera Marlene 
Published: August 2019

Introduction

Inflammation has been found to play a role in disease prognosis and progression of many conditions, such as cancers, thrombolytic, and cardiovascular diseases. However, reference values for inflammatory markers within the U.S. adult population remains an understudied area. As such, this study aims to (1) establish average values of various inflammatory markers within U.S. adults and (2) explore heterogeneity in average values by socio-demographic and behavioral risk factors.

Methods

Aggregated cross-sectional data from participants ages 20 and older within the 2010-2017 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used. Outcomes included validated measures of general inflammation (lymphocyte count, monocyte count, segmented neutrophil count, eosinophil count, basophil count, platelet count, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio); risk factors included socio-demographic and behavioral variables such as race, age, sex, nativity, BMI, smoking history and alcohol use. The final sample consisted of 16,849 participants across all of the survey waves. Adjusted linear regression models were used to explore the association between various demographic and behavioral characteristics and inflammatory markers.

Results

Average lymphocyte count across all participants was 2.17k cells/microliter, neutrophil was 4.23k cells/microliter, and NLR was 2.12. In the fully adjusted linear regression model, average NLR for non-Hispanic Blacks was 0.44 lower than the average NLR for non-Hispanic Whites (95% CI -0.52 to- 0.37). In the fully adjusted model it was found that age, nativity, and smoking status were also statistically significantly associated with NLR. Participants in the 30-59, 60-79, 80+ age categories had 0.09, 0.28. 0.71 higher average NLR values compared to ages 20-29, respectively. Current smokers had a 0.11 average higher than NLR value compared to non-smokers. Former smokers also have an average NLR that is 0.08 higher than non-smokers.

Conclusions

This study provides population-based average values of inflammatory markers in healthy U.S adults. These values significantly varied by race, age, nativity, and smoking status. Clinical implications indicate the need to consider different cut-off points by race and age for risk assessment as a predictive and prognostic marker for various illnesses. These inflammatory markers can be easily measured in cost-effective simple blood tests, are routinely available in other population-based national surveys, and have the potential to predict the prognosis of cancer treatments, thrombolytic diseases and coronary artery disease.

Citation Format: Raisa Haq, Rose Calixte, Marlene Camacho-Rivera. Demographic and social patterns of average values of inflammatory markers in U.S. adults: 2010-2017 NHANES analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 613.