C-reactive protein and the risk of vascular disease in diabetes mellitus

Abstract

There has been great interest in the last few years in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular complications. Diabetic subjects exhibit a high/ prevalence of accelerated atherosclerois, the exact etiology of the pathogenesis of this is ' uncertain but numerous observations support the theory that chronic low-grade inflammation is involved in the progression of atherosclerosis. '1' feature of inflammatory activity is the increase in circulating plasma eonaintrations of acute-phase proteins produced by the liver, one of the most senkitive acute- r phase proteins is C-reactive protein (CRP) and during an acute inflammation

the concentration can increase several hundredfold..

We studied 60 cases and 10 control subjects. They were subjected to clinical examination and laboratory work-up in the fonn of J1ood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein (CRP), fidrinogen and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in addition to routine labb.ratory work­ up. Statistical analysis was done to demonstrate any relation beJeen diabetic I vascular (macro- & micro-) complications and those clinical arid laboratory . . parameters. . CRP was higher in patients with vascular complications when . I compared to controls. The incidence of CRP positive patients was only

statistically significant when patients with aero-vascular complidations where I compared to controls. HbA1c and PAI-1 were statistically significantly higher

when patients were compared to nonnal controls. Fibrinogen wab found to be high in all patients and controls with no statistical significance. jA statistically significant correlation between body mass index (BMI) and PAI-1jwas found on comparing all cases and controls. •