New preprint: inflammation, environmental exposure, and racial disparities in heart failure
New medRxiv preprint by Dr. Félix E. Rivera-Mariani with RIPLRT fellows Tashoy Campbell and Emily Solomon: inflammatory biomarkers, heart failure, and racial disparities in 6,785 MESA participants.
We are pleased to share a new medRxiv preprint led by Dr. Félix E. Rivera-Mariani, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lynn University, and coauthored with RIPLRT Institute Master’s Research Fellows Tashoy Campbell, M.S., and Emily Solomon, M.S.:
Using data from 6,785 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) followed for approximately 16 years, the researchers examined how systemic inflammatory and hemostatic biomarkers relate to incident heart failure and to the racial disparities observed in heart-failure risk.
Key findings
- IL-6, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and D-dimer were each independently associated with incident heart failure.
- A combined inflammatory-burden measure was also associated with greater heart-failure risk.
- Sequential biomarker adjustment reduced the observed Black–White log-hazard difference by 57.5%.
- The associations remained robust after adjustment for ambient PM₂.₅ and NO₂ exposure in a geocoded participant subset.
These observational findings do not establish causation. However, they support continued investigation into how unequal environmental and structural conditions may contribute to the biological pathways underlying cardiovascular disparities.
We are especially proud of Tashoy and Emily for contributing to this student-engaged collaboration, which integrates cardiovascular epidemiology, environmental health, biomarker science, health equity, and reproducible computational analysis.
Read the preprint on medRxiv →
This manuscript is a preprint and has not yet undergone formal peer review.