Jayedi A, et al. - Researchers systematically assessed the association of circulating inflammation markers with the future risk of hypertension via meta-analysis of cohort studies. They analyzed 14 prospective cohort studies, 2 retrospective cohort studies and 5 nested case-control studies (total: 142,640 participants and 20,676 cases), and identified a linear increase in the risk of hypertension with increasing circulating inflammation markers, even within the low-risk and intermediate-risk categories. They found higher levels of circulating C reactive protein (CRP), high-sensitive CRP (hs-CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6, but not IL-1β, to be associated with the risk of developing hypertension. Subgroups of studies defined by major sources of heterogeneity also supported the association.