Relationship Between Obesity, Lifestyle and Demographic Factors and CRP

Lee, Nan Young; Han, Myung Ok; Cho, Hong Jun; Park, Hye Soon

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that the elevated C-reactive protein(CRP) levels are associated with fasting plasma glucose, plasma lipid levels and blood pressure etc. However, only few studies have been reported on the relationship between CRP and lifestyle and demographic factors. Aim of present study was to investigate associations between CRP and obesity, lifestyle and demographic factors among Korean adults.
METHODS
The subjects were included 2000 adults who had visited the health examination center at a tertiary care hospital between December 2001 and February 2002. Excluding 103 persons with acute inflammatory conditions and cancers, 1143 men and 754 women were recruited. CRP was quantitatively measured by the immunoturbidimetric method as high sensitivity-CRP. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify correlations between obesity, lifestyle and demographic factors and elevated CRP value.
RESULTS
In men, current smokers had statistically significant higher odds ratio for elevated CRP compared to never-smokers. Higher BMI and higher body fat were significantly associated with elevated CRP in men. In women, frequency of elevated CRP increased linearly according to age. Higher body fat was significantly related with elevated CRP in women.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that elevated CRP is associated with smoking, BMI, and body fat in Korean men, and age and body fat in Korean women. Therefore, it is thought that quitting smoking and controlling body fat might be important to prevent elevated CRP.