Clinical research studyRelationship of Ethnic Origin, Gender, and Age to Blood Creatine Kinase Levels
Section snippets
Screening
Data were collected during screening visits for entry into 1 of 4 studies conducted to assess rosuvastatin treatment of patients with hypercholesterolemia. For all studies, target populations were planned to include men and nonpregnant women who were aged 18 years or older and had been given a diagnosis of hypercholesterolemia. Individuals screened for the ARIES study (4522US/0002) described themselves as African American. Individuals screened for the IRIS study (4522US/0006) described
Participant Demographic Characteristics
Ethnicity, gender, and age distribution of the pooled population of screened individuals (N = 11,346) are shown in Table 1. Data relate to 2334 African American individuals in ARIES, 2355 South Asian individuals in IRIS, 3301 white individuals in SOLAR (and in the same study, 426 African American and 234 Hispanic individuals), and 2696 Hispanic individuals in STARSHIP. A greater number of men (n = 6058; 53.4%) than women (n = 5288; 46.6%) were included in the pooled population. The ratio of men
Discussion
This analysis of more than 11,000 individuals shows the effects of race/ethnicity, gender, and age on creatine kinase levels in adults with hypercholesterolemia. Separate studies have reported that Hispanic and Asian adults have creatine kinase levels similar to those of white adults.1, 5, 15 This is the first analysis in which creatine kinase levels among adults of South Asian origin were examined specifically; results show that creatine kinase levels in this group are similar to those of
Conclusions
This analysis of a large population of adults with hypercholesterolemia shows that typical creatine kinase levels vary significantly by racial/ethnic origin, gender, and age. African American individuals have higher creatine kinase levels than white, South Asian, or Hispanic individuals; within each ethnic group, men have higher creatine kinase levels than women. An age-dependent decrease in creatine kinase levels is seen among men but not among women. Physicians should keep these trends in
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the investigators, co-investigators, study coordinators, and study participants. We thank the editorial staff of Scientific Connexions, Newtown, Pennsylvania, for assistance in the preparation of this article, funded by AstraZeneca.
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Funding: The ARIES, IRIS, SOLAR, and STARSHIP studies, as well as this analysis of pooled screening data, were funded by AstraZeneca LP, Wilmington, Delaware.
Conflict of Interest: Dr Neal is an active member of the Speakers' Bureau and consultant for AstraZeneca, with honoraria exceeding $50,000. Dr Ferdinand is an AstraZeneca consultant and member of the Speakers' Bureau, with honoraria totaling $50,000 for the past 3 years. Drs Yčas and Miller are employees of AstraZeneca.
Authorship: All authors had full access to the data and played a role in writing this article.