The Trends of CRP Levels at Different Waist-to-Hip Ratios Among Normotensive Overweight and Obese Patients: A Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE To determine the correlation between CRP (C-reactive protein) and Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) among over weight and obese patients with normal blood pressure. STUDY DESIGN An analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Medical indoor and outpatient clinics of Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from March to August 2013. METHODOLOGY Willing patients with Body Mass Index (BMI) of > 23 kg/m2, normal blood pressures, and age between 18 - 65 years were inducted in the study. Patients with signs of fluid retention, collagen vascular disease, CAD, on corticosteroids, immunomodulators or lipid lowering medications, hypertensives and febrile patients were excluded. Patients were considered to be at low risk for cardiovascular events if WHR among males and females was < 0.95 and < 0.80, respectively. Similarly, males and females with WHR > 1 and > 0.85, respectively were taken as high risk. Levels in-between these ranges were taken as moderate risk. Data was analyzed on SPSS 15. Descriptive statistics were determined. The p-value was calculated by ANOVA and independent sample t-test among males and females respectively, to compare WHR in relation to different CRP levels and < 0.05 was taken as significant. RESULTS There were 34 male and 74 female patients. The gender-wise mean WHR did not show statistically significant difference categorized CRP levels (p=0.072 in male, and 0.052 in females). There was an increasing trend in CRP levels as WHR increased among females, but this was statistically insignificant (p=0.05). CONCLUSION Although the impact of central obesity on cardiac health is well known, however, WHR alone is an unreliable indicator of systemic inflammation and raised CRP level.