title: Association of high-sensitive C-reactive protein with advanced stage beta-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. One laboratory marker for cardiovascular risk assessment is high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP).
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study attempted to analyze the association of hsCRP levels with insulin resistance, beta-cell dysfunction and macrovascular disease in 4270 non-insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes [2146 male, 2124 female; mean age +/-SD, 63.9+/-11.1 years; body mass index (BMI) 30.1+/-5.5 kg/m(2); disease duration 5.4+/-5.6 years; hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) 6.8+/-1.3%]. It consisted of a single morning visit with collection of a fasting blood sample. Observational parameters included several clinical scores and laboratory biomarkers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Stratification into cardiovascular risk groups according to hsCRP levels revealed that 934 patients had low risk (hsCRP <1 mg/L), 1369 patients had intermediate risk (hsCRP 1-3 mg/L), 1352 patients had high risk (hsCRP >3-10 mg/L), and 610 patients had unspecific hsCRP elevation (>10 mg/L). Increased hsCRP levels were associated with other indicators of diabetes-related cardiovascular risk (homeostatic model assessment, intact proinsulin, insulin, BMI, beta-cell dysfunction, all p<0.001), but showed no correlation with disease duration or glucose control. The majority of the patients were treated with diet (34.1%; hsCRP levels 2.85+/-2.39 mg/L) or metformin monotherapy (21.1%; 2.95+/-2.50 mg/L hsCRP). The highest hsCRP levels were observed in patients treated with sulfonylurea (17.0%; 3.00+/-2.43 mg/L).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that hsCRP may be used as a cardiovascular risk marker in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and should be evaluated in further prospective studies.
authors: Institute for Clinical Research and Development, IKFE GmbH, Parcusstrasse 8, 55116 Mainz, Germany. andreasp@ikfe.de
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Pfützner
authors: Eberhard
authors: E
authors: Standl
authors: Hermann-Josef
authors: HJ
authors: Strotmann
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Schulze
authors: Cloth
authors: C
authors: Hohberg
authors: Georg
authors: G
authors: Lübben
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Pahler
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Schöndorf
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Forst