Prospective cohort study of C-reactive protein trajectories and the risk of cancers

A prospective cohort study in China investigated the association of CRP trajectory patterns and the risk of new-onset cancers among 52,276 participants. Latent mixture modelling showed low-stable CRP pattern in 43,258 participants, moderate-increasing pattern in 2591, increasing-decreasing pattern in 2068, and elevated-decreasing pattern in 4359. Relative to the low-stable pattern, the moderate-increasing pattern was associated with elevated risk of overall cancer and nine site-specific cancers and leukemia. The increasing-decreasing pattern was associated with elevated risk of overall cancer and five site-specific cancer, and with decreased risk of colorectal cancer. Elevated-decreasing pattern was associated with increased risk of leukemia and decreased risk of esophageal and colorectal cancer. The authors conclude that CRP trajectories play an important role in the occurrence of cancers.