High-sensitivity C-reactive protein in type 2 diabetic patients with and without the metabolic syndrome

Objective: To describe the distribution of serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in type 2 diabetes mellitus outpatients, and relate it to cardiovascular disease risk. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, a tertiary referral hospital. Subjects: One hundred and ninety seven type 2 diabetic outpatients and fifty age- and sex-matched non-diabetic hypertensive outpatients. Results: The distribution of hsCRP in the diabetic population was skewed, with a mean of 4.33 mg/L and a median of 2.53 mg/L. The majority (42%) of diabetics had hsCRP levels in the high-risk category (hsCRP>3 mg/L). The median hsCRP was non-significantly higher in the diabetic patients with metabolic syndrome compared to those without (2.68 vs 2.30 mg/L, p=0.433). The median hsCRP was non-significantly higher in the hypertensive group compared to that in matched diabetic non-metabolic syndrome group (2.30 vs 2.23 mg/L, p=0.297). HsCRP increased with number of metabolic syndrome components, patients with four components having higher hsCRP levels than those with one, though the difference was not statistically significant (3.59 vs 1.57 mg/L, p=0.095). Conclusion: Our study, though cross-sectional in nature, supports the existence of a correlation between hsCRP levels and cardiovascular disease risk. The small difference in CRP levels between diabetic metabolic and non-metabolic groups underpowered the study. Cohort studies are needed to determine the predictive power of hsCRP for cardiovascular disease in our setup.