After correction for age and sex, the presence of an infection was still positively associated with CRP, sTLR2 and sTLR4: unstandardized coefficients 85 (95% CI 64-106, P < 0.001), 23 (95% CI 12-34, P < 0.001), and 6.2 (95% CI 4.2-8.2, P < 0.001), respectively. Here, CRP is linked to infection.