Elevated Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A₂ Independently Affects Age-Related Increases in Systolic Blood Pressure: A Nested Case-Control Study in a Prospective Korean Cohort

Figure 3

Correlation matrix of associations among changes in (Δ) clinical parameters, inflammatory markers, and oxidative stress markers in all study subjects. For all study subjects (n = 363), Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the association between variables: changes in (difference from baseline, Δ) clinical characteristics, biochemical parameters, inflammatory markers, and oxidative stress markers. Red indicates a positive correlation; blue indicates a negative correlation. In particular, Δ Lp-PLA₂ activity showed strong positive correlations with Δ systolic BP, Δ diastolic BP, and Δ 8-epi-PGF_2α (r = 0.418, p < 0.001; r = 0.329, p < 0.001; and r = 0.430, p < 0.001, respectively).