J Korean Diabetes Assoc.  2004 Oct;28(5):432-440.

Correlation of C-reactive Protein with Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly Korean Women with Normal or Impaired Glucose Tolerance

• Kwon SB
• Choi KM
• Park SY
• Yoo HJ
• Ryu OH
• Park SS
• Kim HY
• Lee KW
• Seo JA
• Oh JH
• Kim SG
• Kim NH
• Baik SH
• Choi DS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported that type 2 diabetes is associated with the increased blood concentrations of markers for the acute phase response, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), serum sialic acid and fibrinogen. The purpose of this study was to verify whether the pro-inflammatory cytokine- induced acute-phase response is a major pathogenic mechanism for type 2 diabetes in elderly Korean women.
METHODS
We randomly selected a total of 232 non-smoking and non-diabetic female subjects among a total of 1,737 elderly subjects aged over 60 years who had participated in a population based study in Seoul, Korea (SWS Study 1999). We compared concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), as well as the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP), between the subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and the subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).
RESULTS
The IGT group showed higher serum high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) concentrations than did the NGT group (the median was 1.2 versus 0.9, respectively, p<0.05). Moreover, a close relationship between serum hs-CRP concentrations and many components of the metabolic syndrome was found. However, serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and TNF-alpha were not increasedin the IGT group, and they were not closely correlated with the components of metabolic syndrome. Multiple regression analysis using a stepwise selection method showed that the white blood cell counts, body mass index (BMI), fasting insulin, post-load 2h glucose, hematocrit and LDL cholesterol were associated with hs-CRP.
CONCLUSIONS
The present study confirms the relationship between C-reactive protein, impaired glucose tolerance and metabolic syndrome in elderly Korean women.

Keyword

Type 2 diabetes; Impaired glucose tolerance; C-reactive protein; Acute phase protein; Metabolic syndrome

MeSH Terms

Acute-Phase Proteins
Acute-Phase Reaction
Aged*
Body Mass Index
C-Reactive Protein*
Cholesterol, LDL
Cytokines
Fasting
Female
Fibrinogen
Glucose*
Hematocrit
Humans
Insulin
Interleukin-6
Korea
Leukocyte Count
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid
Seoul
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
Acute-Phase Proteins
C-Reactive Protein
Cholesterol, LDL
Cytokines
Fibrinogen
Glucose
Insulin
Interleukin-6
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha