Obesity, overweight, and weight gain over adult life are main determinants of elevated hs-CRP in a cohort of Mediterranean women.
OBJECTIVE
Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), body weight modification, and rate of weight increase over 10 years were evaluated in relation to high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) to assess the association of cross-sectional or longitudinal estimates of obesity/overweight with levels of circulating CRP, a well established and standardized marker of low-grade inflammation, in relation to cardiovascular risk.


METHODS
This study included a subgroup of 390 menopausal women participating in a large currently ongoing epidemiological study (Progetto Atena; N=5062).


RESULTS
At the final visit, women in the third tertile of BMI, compared with those in the first tertile, showed the following odds ratio (OR) of having high hs-CRP values: III vs I tertile OR, 3.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.94-6.49, P<0.001, adjusted for age, and metabolic syndrome. Similar results were obtained when we evaluated women in the third tertile of WC, or those in the highest group of estimated weight increase, relative to their weight at age 20 years or in the group of highest rate of weight increase over 10 years of observation (weight at the final visit-weight at the baseline visit divided by time in months between visits).


CONCLUSIONS
The independent relations between different markers of overweight/obesity and elevated hs-CRP consistently indicate that high (above 1.5 mg l(-1), median) hs-CRP is a major biochemical counterpart of cross-sectional or longitudinal estimates of increased adipose tissue mass.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University 'Federico II' Medical School, Naples, Italy. margenti@unina.it
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D050177:Overweight / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055105:Waist Circumference; D015430:Weight Gain
D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein