Why the study?
Previous population-based reports linking chronic stressors to CRP relied on weak methodologies, leaving the role of CRP as a mediator uncertain.
Does within-person variation in chronic stressors associate with variation in C-reactive protein (CRP)?
Does within-person variation in chronic stressors associate with variation in C-reactive protein (CRP)?
This study found no positive association between chronic stressors and CRP levels, suggesting CRP may not mediate the link between social stressors and cardiometabolic conditions.
No within-person CRP-stressor association detected; challenges prior mediation inferences and leaves open alternative pathways for cardiometabolic effects.
Objectives: Literature suggests C-reactive protein (CRP)—as a marker of low-grade systemic inflammation—may mediate the linkage between chronic stressors and cardiometabolic conditions. Previous population-based reports are based on weak methodologies and may have yielded incorrect inferences. The current study examined linkages of within-person CRP variation with corresponding variation in stressor burdens. Method: Data were from the 2006, 2010, and 2014 waves of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Analysis was through unit fixed effects and first-difference estimators. Both gender-combined and gender-specific models were run. Results: In none of the analyses was CRP positively associated with chronic stressors. This was true among both genders, and in models of linear as well as nonlinear change. Results held in a series of separate robustness checks. Discussion: CRP may not mediate the social etiology of degenerative diseases. Population representative evidence of inflammation’s role in these processes remains absent.
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Aniruddha Das (2019) studied this question.
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