Low-grade systemic inflammation and the development of type 2 diabetes the atherosclerosis risk in communities study

To examine the association of low-grade systemic in-flammation with diabetes, as well as its heterogeneity across subgroups, we designed a case-cohort study rep-resenting the 9-year experience of 10,275 Atheroscle-rosis Risk in Communities Study participants. Analytes were measured on stored plasma of 581 incident cases of diabetes and 572 noncases. Statistically significant hazard ratios of developing diabetes for those in the fourth (versus first) quartile of inflammation markers, adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, study center, parental history of diabetes, and hypertension, ranged from 1.9 to 2.8 for sialic acid, orosomucoid, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein. After additional adjustment for BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and fasting glucose and insulin, only the interleukin-6 association remained statistically