Abstract:
Proportional mortality for Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) was 30% in Sri Lanka
for all ages according to WHO. Overweight and obesity are defined risk factors for
non-communicable diseases such as CVD. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an
inflammatory marker and has an independent predictive value for CVD when within
the clinically normal range. Most studies indicate an association of elevated CRP
levels with overweight and obese due to low grade systemic inflammation. Most
these observations are according to western anthropometric parameters and few
reports related to South Asians exist. Therefore, the objective of this study was to
investigate the association of CRP with weight of confirmed CVD patients (n=51)
awaiting Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. The study population included 30 males
(age 5710.4 yrs) and 21 (age 569.5 yrs) females with no clinical signs of
inflammation and infection. The weight, height and waist circumferences (WC)
were measured and blood samples were collected to analyse serum CRP level by
turbidimetric immunoassay. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated and the
subjects were identified based on BMI values defined for Asians by the WHO as
being overweight (23 kg/m2
) or non-overweight (<23 kg/m2
) or obese (25 kg/m2
).
CRP of the study group ranged between 0.4–14.5 mg/L. Depending on CRP
concentration, the subjects were divided to two categories, <5mg/L and 5 mg/L.
70.6% individuals were either overweight or obese (47.1%). From the total
population 84.3% of the subjects had <5mg/L CRP. There were positive
correlations (p<0.05) between BMI and CRP concentration when considering the
total group (r=0.420), the overweight group (r=0.476) and the obese group (r=
0.563). A negative correlation was observed when considering the subjects who had
BMI <23 with their CRP (r=-0.121, p>0.05). Significant correlations between WC
and CRP concentration (r=0.356, p<0.05) of the total subjects and the overweight
subjects (r=0.370, p<0.05) were also observed. Although not significant, the WC of
obese correlated positively with CRP (r=0.316, p>0.05). The odd ratios of
overweight and obese with elevated CRP were 3.37 (95% CI: 0.37–30.20) and 4.17
(95% CI: 0.75–23.06) respectively. The results thus indicate overweight and obese
patients with confirmed CVD have a threefold and a fourfold high risk of having
elevated CRP respectively. BMI and waist circumference (central obesity) had
positive correlations with CRP in overweight and obese CVD patients.
