Additionally, cystatin-C is linked to inflammation and cardiovascular risk.30 CRP is a strong predictor of incident HF and adverse events in established HF, in both healthy populations and among patients with various comorbidities such as atherosclerosis, acute myocardial infarction (MI) or diabetes.31 In the Rotterdam Study, CRP was found to be a strong independent HF predictor, although this relationship was more pronounced in men.32 These observations contradict our findings which suggest similar importance of CRP in both sexes. Here, CST3 is linked to atherosclerosis.