Early Origins of Inflammation: A Life Course Perspective on the Predictors of C-reactive Protein in Young Adults in the Philippines

Thomas W McDade, Northwestern University
Christopher Kuzawa, Northwestern University
Linda Adair, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Inflammation may be an important mechanism linking early environments with subsequent patterns of aging and mortality, although few studies have considered biomarkers of inflammation from a life course perspective. We address this issue in an ongoing cohort study in the Philippines, with over 20 years of prospective data. Concentrations of high sensitivity C-reactive protein were determined in 1,609 individuals, and evaluated in relation to the following: prenatal undernutrition; growth, frequency of infectious disease, pathogen exposure, and patterns of breastfeeding in the first two years of life; and concurrent measures of health behaviors and anthropometric measures of nutritional status, assessed at the time of blood collection. Logistic regression models indicate that prenatal undernutrition and pathogen exposure in infancy are relatively strong predictors of the likelihood of elevated CRP in young adulthood, independent of concurrent measures of adiposity and health behaviors.