Associations between a protective lifestyle behaviour score and biomarkers of chronic low-grade inflammation: a cross-sectional analysis in middle-to-older aged adults

Background/objectives: Certain lifestyle behaviours may have a protective effect against low-grade systemic inflammation, which is linked to chronic disease. Our objective was to examine associations between a five-component protective lifestyle behaviour (PLB) score and a range of pro-inflammatory cytokines, adipocytokines, acute-phase response proteins, coagulation factors and white blood cells. Subjects/methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2045 middle-to-older aged men and women. Low-risk behaviours included never smoking, moderate alcohol intake, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, a high-quality diet (upper 40% Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score) and a normal body mass index (BMI) (18.5–24.9 kg/m²). Linear and logistic regression analyses tested individual protective behaviour and PLB score associations with biomarkers. Results: Analysis of individual low-risk behaviours revealed varied associations depending on the biomarker, with normal BMI showing the most consistent associations. Examination of the PLB score showed that compared to subjects with 4–5 protective behaviours, those with 0–1 protective behaviours had 1.4–3.8 increased odds of having a less favourable inflammatory profile. Following adjustment for BMI, significant trend relationships were observed between the number of protective behaviours and complement component 3 (P < 0.001), c-reactive protein (P < 0.001), interleukin 6 (P < 0.001), tumour necrosis factor alpha (P < 0.001) and white blood cell count (P < 0.001) concentrations. Conclusions: These results suggest a cumulative protective effect of healthy lifestyle behaviours against systemic inflammation in middle-to-older aged adults which is independent of having a healthy body weight.