Interleukin-6 and its Relationship to Coronary Artery Calcium Burden-North Texas Healthy Heart Study

AbdulRahim, Nashila, Interleukin-6 and its Relationship to Coronary Artery Calcium Burden- North Texas Healthy Heart Study. Master of Science (Primary Care Clinical Research), May, 2008, pp., 7 tables, 5 figures, bibliography, 73 titles. Atherosclerosis is highly associated with increased serum inflammatory markers. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) burden has allowed researchers to have a non-invasive proxy measure of atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that interleukin-6 (IL-6), after controlling for CV risk factors, would be associated with CAC scores, and this association will be modified by race/ethnicity. 344 subjects were recruited. IL-6 concentrations were measured, and computed tomography was used to calculate CAC scores. After accounting for age, gender, race, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol, a one-unit increase in IL-6 concentration is associated with 1.03 greater odds of an abnormal calcium score (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.07). Race/ethnicity did not modify this association. IL-6 did not prove to be a simple clinical marker of CAC.