The results from multivariate linear regression analysis also revealed other important significant predictors of inflammatory markers, including obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, for all three markers), former smoking (for hs-CRP), COPD (for hs-CRP and sICAM-1), ≥ 60 years of age (for IL-6), and Caucasian (for IL-6) (data not shown). Here, IL6 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.