Background: Inflammation and cholesterol jointly contribute to cardiovascular disease and mortality. The relative contributions of inflammation and cholesterol to the risk of future cardiovascular events might shift according to pre-existing traits of each individual. Whether the association of inflammation and cholesterol with cardiovascular mortality differ by race remains unclear. Method: We sampled 12,726 participants from NHAENS III who were categorized as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black or Mexican Americans. In all race groups, we used the Cox proportional hazard regression model to relate log-transformed CRP and LDL-C levels to CVD deaths. All models simultaneously included CRP and LDL-C, and were adjusted for age, current smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, lipid-lowering medications, total cholesterol and family income. Results: 12,726 participants (53.4% female, mean age 46.8 ± 19.7 years) including 5648 non-Hispanic White (44.4%), 3484 non-Hispanic Black (27.4%) and 3594 Mexican-American (28.2%) were followed up for a median 26.3 years , and 1905 cardiovascular deaths were documented. After adjusting for cardiometabolic risk factors, per 1 SD increase in log-transformed CRP was associated with 14% (HR 1.14 [95% CI, 1.08-1.21], P < 0.001) and 13% (HR 1.13 [95% CI, 1.04-1.23], P = 0.001) higher risk of CVD mortality in non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black respectively, while the association was neutral in Mexican American. Notably, per 1 SD increase in LDL-C was not associated with CVD mortality in all race groups (P > 0.05 for all). Conclusion: After a follow up of median 26.3 years, we found that, in non-Hispanic White and Black individuals, but not in Mexican American, inflammatory was a stronger predictor of cardiovascular mortality, compared to cholesterol.
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