Elevated Levels of Serum Alkaline Phosphatase are Associated with Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to investigate the associations of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke, as well as their subtypes, among men and women in a prospective cohort study.

Methods: A total of 11,408 men and 14,981 women were included to evaluate the associations between ALP levels and incident CVD. Participants were divided into four groups according to the quartiles of serum ALP levels in men and women separately. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: During an average follow-up of 7.3 years, 7,015 incident CVDs (5,561 CHDs and 1,454 strokes) were documented. After adjustments for age, body mass index, smoking status, drinking status, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, physical activity, aspirin usage, anticoagulants usage, menopausal status (women only), family history of CVD, estimated glomerular filtration rate, white blood cell counts, and admission batch and comparing the lowest quartile of ALP, the adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of participants in the highest quartile were 1.22 (1.11–1.34) for CVD, 1.14 (1.02–1.28) for CHD, 1.43 (1.18–1.73) for stroke, 1.31 (1.09–1.57) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), 1.37 (1.11–1.70) for ischemic stroke, and 1.75 (1.10–2.79) for hemorrhagic stroke in men and 1.12 (1.01–1.23) for CVD, 1.10 (0.99–1.23) for CHD, 1.18 (0.92–1.51) for stroke, 1.23 (1.03–1.47) for ACS, 1.10 (0.83–1.45) for ischemic stroke, and 1.54 (0.90–2.65) for hemorrhagic stroke in women. The ALP–CVD associations remained significant even within the normal ranges of ALP levels (40–150 U/L). Moreover, linear dose–response relationships were found between ALP levels and incident CVD.

Conclusions: Higher ALP levels, even within the normal range, were significantly associated with increased risks of CVD, in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggested that regular monitoring of ALP levels may help in improving the early identification of the population at higher CVD risk.