C-Reactive Protein and Exercise in Postmenopausal Women

描述（由申请人提供）： C反应蛋白（CRP）是男性和女性心血管疾病（CVD）的独立预测因子。CRP是全身性炎症的标志物，并且发现CRP的治疗性降低导致CVD风险降低。CRP作为绝经后妇女的CVD危险因素可能具有特别的相关性，因为横断面和干预研究发现激素替代疗法（HRT）可显著增加CRP。 我们有初步的横断面数据表明，HRT-CRP的关系可能会被废除较高水平的心肺适应性，独立的体重指数。 心肺健康反映了有规律的身体活动习惯，可能会影响CRP，这一观点提出了一个令人兴奋的潜在机制，以降低绝经后妇女的CRP。 据我们所知，目前还没有关于运动训练对绝经后妇女CRP影响的随机临床试验的报告，也没有任何研究检查不同剂量的运动对CRP变化的影响。 拟议的研究包括2项研究，两者都将利用我们中心正在进行的NIH资助项目。 第一个是来自NIA资助的有氧运动中心纵向研究（AG 06945）的横断面流行病学研究。我们的计划是从现有的医疗记录中提取额外的数据，以扩大初步工作，探索心肺功能，HRT的使用和CRP水平之间的关系。第二项拟议研究是NHLBI资助的女性运动剂量反应（DREW）研究（HL 66262）的前瞻性辅助研究。在DREW中，450名超重、久坐、绝经后妇女将被随机分配到无运动对照组或3个运动组中的1个，运动量分别为公众健康建议的每周体育活动（运动）的50%、100%和150%。研究期为6个月，所有的锻炼都在监督下进行。我们建议从冷冻血浆样本中测量CRP，以检查体力活动（和健身）变化与CRP之间的剂量反应关系。此外，我们建议在DREW参与者的一个子集中测量内脏肥胖，以评估身体成分和脂肪分布变化以及与CRP变化相关的体力活动（和健身）变化的相对重要性。这些研究为快速探索CRP、体力活动和HRT之间的关系提供了一个创新、独特、及时和具有成本效益的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): C-reactive protein (CRP) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in men and women. CRP is a marker of systemic inflammation and therapeutic lowering of CRP was found to result in reduced CVD risk. CRP may have particular relevance as a CVD risk factor in post-menopausal women as cross-sectional and intervention studies find that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) substantially increases CRP. We have preliminary cross-sectional data suggesting that the HRT-CRP relation may be abolished by higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, independently of body mass index. The idea that cardiorespiratory fitness, a reflection of regular physical activity habits, may affect CRP presents an exciting potential mechanism to reduce CRP in postmenopausal women. To our knowledge there are no published reports from randomized clinical trials on the effect of exercise training alone on CRP in postmenopausal women, nor are there any studies examining the effects of different doses of exercise on changes in CRP. The proposed research consists of 2 studies and both will capitalize on ongoing NIH-funded projects at our center. The 1st is a cross-sectional epidemiological study from the NIA-funded Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (AG06945). Our plan is to abstract additional data from the existing medical records to expand preliminary work exploring the relation between cardiorespiratory fitness, HRT use, and CRP levels. The 2nd proposed study is a prospective ancillary study to the NHLBI-funded, Dose-Response to Exercise in Women (DREW) study (HL66262). In DREW, 450 overweight, sedentary, postmenopausal women will be randomly assigned either to a no-exercise control group or to 1 of 3 exercise groups at 50, 100, and 150%, respectively, of the consensus public health recommendations for weekly physical activity (exercise). The study period is 6 months and all exercise sessions are supervised. We propose to measure CRP from frozen plasma samples to examine the dose-response relation between changes in physical activity (and fitness) and CRP. Additionally, we propose to measure visceral adiposity in a sub-set of the DREW participants to evaluate the relative importance of changes in body composition and fat distribution and changes in physical activity (and fitness) in relation to changes in CRP. These studies represent an innovative, unique, timely, and cost-effective opportunity to quickly explore the relation between CRP, physical activity, and HRT.