Abstract

Background: Indians tend to have excess body fat and abdominal and truncal adiposity. These features have been referred to as the “Asian Indian phenotype or paradox.” The adipose tissue produces proinflammatory cytokines. Little data exist about the relationship between obesity inflammation in Indians.

Objective: To correlate high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) to various anthropometric parameters and various grades of obesity.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary-care center in north Karnataka. About 100 participants aged 20–60 years, who fulfilled the inclusion–exclusion criteria were enrolled for the study. Informed consent was taken from the participants. Anthropometric values were taken based on standard guidelines. The hs-CRP and other routine blood investigations were done. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive methodologies such as mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis.

Result: About 100 participants were enrolled (39 women and 61 men). Their mean hs-CRP was 3.55 ± 1.88 mg/L. Women revealed higher CRP (4.12 ± 2.43 mg/L) when compared with men subjects (3.19 ± 1.32 mg/L). On the basis of body mass index (BMI) (mean, 25.74 ± 4.07 kg/m2), participants with BMI > 23 kg/m2 showed higher CRP (3.99 ± 1.96 mg/L) when compared with participants with BMI between 18.5 kg/m2. and 23 kg/m2 as controls (2.42 ± 0.98 mg/L). As the grades of obesity increased, the CRP increased accordingly. On regression analysis, correlation of hs-CRP with anthropometric values was stronger for BMI (r = 0.51), waist circumference (WC) (r = 0.42) than for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (r = 0.32). The hs-CRP was classified risk-wise as low, average, and high, based on CDC/AHA guidelines. A high level of hs-CRP was correlated with obese group.

Conclusion: CRP, a key inflammatory marker, increases with increasing grades of BMI. CRP level correlates with all the anthropometric parameters, more so with WC than BMI or WHR among Indians. In this study, we also found that women showed an elevated CRP when compared with men.

Key words: CRP, BMI, waist circumference, WHR