• Sílvia Fraga, Pedro Marques-Vidal, Peter Vollenweider, Gérard Waeber, Idris Guessous, Fred Paccaud, Henrique Barros, and Silvia Stringhini.
• EPIUnit- Institute of Public Health - University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: silfraga@med.up.pt.
• Prev Med. 2015 Feb 1; 71: 12-9.

ObjectiveTo assess the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and inflammatory markers using two different European population samples.MethodsWe used data from the CoLaus (N=6412, Lausanne, Switzerland) and EPIPorto (N=1205, Porto, Portugal) studies. Education and occupational position were used as indicators of socioeconomic status (SES). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was available for both cohorts. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were available in CoLaus; leukocyte count and fibrinogen in EPIPorto.ResultsWe showed that low SES was significantly associated with high inflammation in both studies. We also showed that behavioural factors contributed the most to SES differences in inflammation. In both studies the larger difference between the lowest and the highest SES was observed for hs-CRP. In the Swiss sample, a linear association between education and hs-CRP persisted after adjustment for all mediating factors and confounders considered (p for linear trend <0.001).ConclusionLarge social differences exist in inflammatory activity, in part independently from demographic and behavioural factors, chronic conditions and medication use. SES differences in inflammation are also similar in countries with different underlying socioeconomic conditions.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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