posted 01/15/03
C-reactive protein (CRP) is an inflammation
marker that has been implicated in
the development of type 2 diabetes
in Caucasians.
However, a new study has found that,
among Mexicans, CRP is likely to predict
type 2 diabetes in women but not in
men.
Researchers in the United Kingdom,
Mexico and the United States who
evaluated 515 women and 729 men from the Mexico City Diabetes Study
report that, while CRP correlated strongly
with the metabolic syndrome in women,
the association was weaker in men.
The metabolic syndrome includes
two or more of the following: blood
lipid disorder, defined as high triglycerides
or low HDL ("good") cholesterol;
high blood pressure; and diabetes.
At the beginning of the study, none of the
subjects had diabetes and none had
more than one of the metabolic
syndrome markers. After six years,
14.2 percent of the men and 16 percent of the women had
developed the metabolic syndrome.
Of that group, 44.1 percent of the
men and 46.2 percent of the women
had developed diabetes. The incidence of
the metabolic syndrome adjusted for
age, smoking, alcohol use and
physical activity-was significantly
higher in women with higher levels
of CRP.
A novel finding in this study
is that high levels of CRP in women
predicted metabolic syndrome even in
the absence of obesity and insulin
resistance.
The researchers note that most previous studies on CRP and diabetes have not separated results for men and women.
Source: Diabetes In Control
Dot Com: Diabetes Care, November 2002.
January 2003 News Article Index
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