A. Erkin Bozdemir, 1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
1 Burcu Barutcuoglu, 2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
2 Didem Dereli, 3. Department of Internal Medicine, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
3 Ceyda Kabaroglu, 4. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
4 Sara Habif, 5. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
5 Oya Bayındır6. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
6 Corresponding author: A. Erkin Bozdemir, MD, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Ege University School of Medicine, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey Phone: +90-232-3904316, Fax: +90-232-3432144,
;
Citation Information. Clinical Chemical Laboratory Medicine. Volume 44, Issue 3, Pages 317–321, ISSN (Online) 1437-4331, ISSN (Print) 1434-6621, DOI: 10.1515/CCLM.2006.055, 01/03/2006
Publication History: Received: //; accepted: //; published online: 07/03/2006
Abstract
Background: Obesity and increased waist-to-hip ratio, emphasizing the importance of truncal obesity, have been found to correlate positively with increased cardiovascular disease risk and mortality. Owing to the inflammatory nature of atherosclerosis, the aim of our study was to find possible correlations between body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, and the inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and neopterin in healthy lean and overweight adults.
Methods: A total of 49 healthy adults (mean age 42.4±1.8 years, 32 females and 17 males) were classified according to their body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio values. CRP and neopterin levels were measured.
Results: CRP levels were found to be significantly higher in the group with BMI≥25 kg/m2 compared to the group with BMI<25 kg/m2 (p=0.014). Subjects with increased waist-to-hip ratio displayed significantly higher serum CRP and neopterin levels (p=0.014 and p=0.033, respectively) compared with the group in which the waist-to-hip ratio was <0.9. A strong positive correlation was found between CRP and BMI in the whole group (r=0.658, p=0.0001).
Conclusions: Grouping overweight subjects according to their waist-to-hip ratio, which is an indicator of truncal obesity, seems to be convenient in studying the inflammatory process in relation to the elevation of adipose tissue. Elevated CRP and neopterin levels may be useful in the assessment of cardiovascular risk in overweight as well as obese subjects.
Keywords atherosclerosis, body mass index, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, inflammation, neopterin, waist-to-hip ratio
