In animal models, inflammatory processes have been shown

to have an important role in the development of kidney

disease. In humans, however, the independent relation

between markers of inflammation and the risk of chronic

kidney disease (CKD) is not known. To clarify this, we

examined the relationship of several inflammatory biomarker

levels (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis

factor- a receptor 2, white blood cell count, and interleukin-6)

with the risk of developing CKD in a population-based

cohort of up to 4926 patients with 15 years of follow-up.

In cross-sectional analyses, we found that all these

inflammation markers were positively associated with the

outcome of interest, prevalent CKD. However, in longitudinal

analyses examining the risk of developing incident CKD

among those who were CKD-free at baseline, only tumor

necrosis factor-a receptor 2, white blood cell count, and

interleukin-6 levels (hazard ratios comparing highest with the

lowest tertile of 2.10, 1.90, and 1.45, respectively), and not C-

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves several pathophysio-

logical mechanisms that are analogous to atherosclerosis.

1

Inflammatory processes are considered to have a key role in

atherosclerosis development.

2

Markers of inflammation are

implicated in the development of diabetes mellitus

3,4

and

hypertension,

5

which are strong risk factors for CKD.

6

In

animal models, inflammatory processes have been shown to

have an important role in kidney disease development.

7–11

However, in humans, the independent relationship between

markers of inflammation and the risk of developing CKD is

not clear. In this context, we examined the independent

relationship between markers of inflammation and the risk of

developing CKD over a period of 15 years in a population-

based cohort study of predominantly White subjects from

Wisconsin who were free of CKD at baseline.

RESULTS

For the cross-sectional analysis, after exclusions (Figure 1),