Serum High Sensitive - C Reactive Protein Levels in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus -A Case Control Study

Background: The process of inflammation induces hepatic synthesis of various acute phase proteins such as high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) which is believed to play a role in insulin resistance. Higher incidence of type-2 diabetes mellitus has been observed with high levels of hs-CRP.

Objectives: The present case control study was under taken to 1. Find the serum hs-CRP levels in type 2 DM patients, 2. Find the serum hs-CRP levels in healthy controls, 3. Compare hs-CRP level between type 2 DM patients and healthy control subjects, 4. Find correlation between HbA1c and hs-CRP in type 2 DM patients and 5. Find the optimum cut-off value for hs-CRP for type 2 DM

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on type 2 DM subjects from Jan 2015 to February 2016. The FBS, PPBS, HbA1c and hs-CRP was estimated. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to show the correlation.

Results: The biochemical parameters FBS, PPBS, HbA1c and hs-CRP levels were increased in cases compared to controls. The p value was 0.0001 for all the parameters, which is highly significant. There is a positive correlation between the HbA1c and hs-CRP. The area under the ROC curve for serum hs-CRP values at various cut-off was 0.797 and the best cut-off of serum hs-CRP levels greater than 3.86 mg/L.

Conclusion: The hs-CRP was higher in healthy controls of this ethnic group. hs-CRP levels were high in type 2 diabetes mellitus, which correlated with HbA1c. Routine screening for hs-CRP in diabetes patients can be done with best cut-off value of 3.86 mg/L.