American Heart Journal
Volume 148, Issue 3 , Pages 462-466 , September 2004

Prognostic significance of raised plasma levels of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein in atrial fibrillation

  • Dwayne S.G. Conway, MRCP

      Affiliations

    • Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • Peter Buggins, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • Elizabeth Hughes, MD

      Affiliations

    • Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
    • ,
  • Gregory Y.H. Lip, MD

      Affiliations

    • Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Prof G.Y.H. Lip, Haemostasis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Unit, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham B18 7QH, United Kingdom.

Received 22 October 2003 ,Accepted 11 January 2004.

References 

  1. Wolf PA, Abbott RD, Kannel WB. Atrial fibrillation as an independent risk factor for stroke (the Framingham Study). Stroke. 1991;22:983–988
  2. Benjamin EJ, D'Agostino RB, Belanger AJ, et al.  Left atrial size and the risk of stroke and death (the Framingham Heart Study). Circulation. 1995;92:835–841
  3. Chung MK, Martin DO, Sprecher D, et al.  C-reactive protein elevation in patients with atrial arrhythmias (inflammatory mechanisms and persistence of atrial fibrillation). Circulation. 2001;104:2886–2891
  4. Dernellis J, Panaretou M. C-reactive protein and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (evidence of the implication of an inflammatory process in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation). Acta Cardiol. 2001;56:375–380
  5. Bruins P, te Velthuis H, Yazdanbakhsh AF, et al.  Activation of the complement system during and after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery: postsurgery activation involves C-reactive protein and is associated with postoperative arrhythmia. Circulation. 1997;65:1180–1184
  6. Frustaci A, Chimenti C, Bellocci F, et al.  Histological substrate of atrial biopsies in patients with lone atrial fibrillation. Circulation. 1997;96:1180–1184
  7. Harris TB, Ferrucci L, Tracy RP, et al.  Associations of elevated interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels with mortality in the elderly. Am J Med. 1999;106:506–512
  8. Ridker PM, Rifai N, Stampfer MJ, et al.  Plasma concentration of interleukin-6 and the risk of future myocardial infarction among apparently healthy men. Circulation. 2000;101:1767–1772
  9. Ridker PM. Inflammation, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular risk (an epidemiologic view). Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. 1999;10(Suppl 1):S9–12
  10. Ridker PM, Buring JE, Shih J, et al.  Prospective study of C-reactive protein and the risk of future cardiovascular events among apparently healthy women. Circulation. 1998;98:731–733
  11. Ridker PM. Role of inflammatory biomarkers in prediction of coronary heart disease. Lancet. 2001;358:946–948
  12. Lip GYH, Lip PL, Zarifis J, et al.  Fibrin D-dimer and beta-thromboglobulin as markers of thrombogenesis and platelet activation in atrial fibrillation (effects of introducing ultra-low-dose warfarin and aspirin). Circulation. 1996;94:425–431
  13. Lip GYH. Does atrial fibrillation confer a hypercoagulable state?. Lancet. 1995;346:1313–1314
  14. Cermak J, Key NS, Bach RR, et al.  C-reactive protein induces human peripheral blood monocytes to synthesize tissue factor. Blood. 1993;82:513–520
  15. Neumann FJ, Ott I, Marx N, et al.  Effect of human recombinant interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 on monocyte procoagulant activity. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1997;17:3399–3405
  16. Burstein SA. Cytokines, platelet production and hemostasis. Platelets. 1997;8:93–104
  17. Amrani DL. Regulation of fibrinogen biosynthesis (glucocorticoid and interleukin-6 control). Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis. 1990;1:443–446
  18. Burstein SA, Peng J, Friese P, et al.  Cytokine-induced alteration of platelet and hemostatic function. Stem Cells. 1996;14:154–162
  19. Yudkin JS, Stehouwer CD, Emeis JJ, et al.  C-reactive protein in healthy subjects (associations with obesity, insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction: a potential role for cytokines originating from adipose tissue?). Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 1999;19:972–978
  20. Conway DSG, Buggins P, Hughes EA, et al. Relationship of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein to the prothrombotic state in chronic atrial fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2004;43:2075–82
  21. Conway DSG, Pearce LA, Chin BSP, et al.  Prognostic value of plasma von Willebrand factor and soluble P-selectin as indices of endothelial damage and platelet activation in 994 patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Circulation. 2003;107:3133–3140
  22. Lip GYH, Hart RG, Conway DSG. Antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation. BMJ. 2002;325:1022–1025

☆ Supported by the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust and the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust Research and Development programme.

PII: S0002-8703(04)00188-7

doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2004.01.026

American Heart Journal
Volume 148, Issue 3 , Pages 462-466 , September 2004

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution