PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To carry out a preliminary evaluation of subclinical inflammation and its genetic background in young adults. RESEARCH DESIGN: Fifty-five healthy Japanese young adults aged 19-27 years (37 males and 18 females, mean age: 22.3 years), and 58 healthy Japanese adults aged 40 to 60 years (21 males and 37 females, mean age: 51.5 years) were included in this study. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: We measured plasma high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels and screened for the C677T polymorphism of the 5-10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR), which is considered a genetic risk factor for atherosclerosis, by HinfI digestion. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Hs-CRP levels of the young adult group were significantly lower than the levels of the middle aged group (0.014 +/- 0.030 mg/dl vs. 0.031 +/- 0.040 mg/dl, p = 0.005). The levels were significantly higher in males than in females (0.028 +/- 0.019 mg/dl vs. 0.013 +/- 0.010 mg/dl, p = 0.008) among young adults. Furthermore, we evaluated the relationship of the C677T genotype and hs-CRP values, but found no association between them. CONCLUSIONS: Although the sample size is limited, our preliminary study demonstrated the profiles of hs-CRP in Japanese young adults. Further investigation will be needed to establish the guidelines for customized school health education using sensitive laboratory and genetic markers.
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Kimura et al. (2004) studied this question.