C-Reactive Protein and the Risk of Developing Hypertension

CONTEXT: Although it has been hypothesized that hypertension is in part an inflammatory disorder, clinical data linking inflammation with incident hypertension are scarce. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether C-reactive protein levels, a marker of systemic inflammation, are associated with incident hypertension. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective cohort study that began in 1992 of 20 525 female US health professionals aged 45 years or older who provided baseline blood samples with initially normal levels of blood pressure (BP) (systolic BP