Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Obesity contributes to the occurrence of many metabolic and cardiovascular complications including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension etc. Body adiposity is not just an energy store, but also an endocrine organ with elaboration of hormones and cytokines. Some of these cytokines have been implicated in the initiation and propagation of inflammation, and hence atherosclerosis.

Aim: This study examined the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a marker of inflammation and anthropometric indices of obesity.

Method: This is a cross-sectional study carried out at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching hospital, Nigeria, involving 108 apparently healthy individuals who presented voluntarily following an advert for research placed at public places. Ethical approval was granted by the hospital’s ethical committee and informed content was given by the participants. Relevant history was obtained and anthropometric measurements were taken. Obesity/abdominal obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≧30kg/m², waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of ≧0.9 in men and ≧0.85 in women, waist circumference (WC) of >94 cm in men and >80 cm in women, or waist-to-height (WHtR) ratio of >0.5 respectively. Hs-CRP measurement was done. Data was analysed using SPSS 20 version. Correlation between markers of inflammation and obesity indices was performed. Statistical significance was defined as P value <0.05.

Results: Mean age of participants was 55.59±7.75years. Obesity was present in 59(54.6%), 83(76.9%), 75(69.4%) and 20(18.5%) using WC, WHR, WHtR and BMI respectively. There was significant positive correlation between hs-CRP and WC (r=0.220; P=0.022), WHR (r=0.243; P=0.011), WHtR (r=0.269; P=0.005) and BMI (r=0.246; P=0.010) respectively.

Conclusion: High sensitivity C-reactive protein is positively correlated with all anthropometric measures of obesity studied, with the highest correlation occurring between high-sensitivity-CRP and waist-to-height ratio.