Associations of pentraxin 3 with cardiovascular disease: the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Summary Objective Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is probably a specific marker of vascular inflammation. However, associations of PTX3 with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk have not been well studied in healthy adults or multi‐ethnic populations. We examined associations of PTX3 with CVD risk factors, measures of subclinical CVD, coronary artery calcification (CAC) and CVD events in the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Approach and Results Two thousand eight hundred and thirty‐eight participants free of prevalent CVD with measurements of PTX3 were included in the present study. After adjustment for age, sex, and ethnicity, PTX3 was positively associated with age, obesity, insulin, systolic blood pressure, C‐reactive protein (CRP), and carotid intima–media thickness (all P