Elevated systemic inflammation markers associated with increased prevalence of hypertension

1. Higher scores for systemic inflammatory markers including the systemic immune inflammation index (SII), system inflammation response index (SIRI), and aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) were significantly associated with risk for hypertension.

2. There was also a significant difference in mean arterial pressures (MAP) in patients with higher quartile scores for the above markers.  

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Hypertension is itself a potent risk factor for several adverse cardiovascular outcomes, representing an important public health concern globally. Recent literature has produced quantifiable markers in peripheral blood cell lines related to systemic inflammation; the SII, SIRI, and AISI have each been established as such markers. This large-scale cross-sectional study analyzed data belonging to 119,664 individuals (aged 20 to 85 years old [median age 49 years], 48.44% male) derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with the purpose of establishing association between SII, AISI, and SIRI scores with hypertension. There was a significant association between higher SII, SIRI, and AISI scores in hypertensive patients compared to those without hypertension, with each unit increase in logarithmically converted quartiles for each marker (logSII, logAISI, logSIRI) resulting in increased risk for hypertension by 20.3%, 20.1%, and 23.7%, respectively. The highest quartile for each of these systemic inflammation markers yielded a 1.11-fold, 1.14-fold, and 1.19-fold increase in risk for hypertension, respectively.  There was also a negative correlation between mean arterial pressure (MAP) and logSII, logSIRI, and logAISI. The highest odds ratios for hypertension were associated with the SIRI, suggesting that it may be the most effective systemic inflammatory marker for identifying HTN. Overall, these results indicate that systemic markers for inflammation could serve useful in stratifying one’s risk for developing hypertension.

Click to read the study in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders

Image: PD

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