CRP and endothelial dysfunction: Of the markers of chronic inflammation (CRP, and IL-6) and endothelial dysfunction (sICAM-1), sST2 showed a significant association after age-sex adjustment only with sICAM-1, with a relative increase of 4.9% (2.5% to 7.3%, p = 0.0001) per SD increase in log sST2.