Article Sidebar
Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
Associations between body mass index and serum levels of C-reactive protein
Abstract
Background. Obesity leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and glucose intolerance, which are phenomena of chronic inflammation. This study was performed to determine whether a higher body mass index (BMI) and central obesity are associated with low-grade inflammation.
Methods. An analysis of 8 453 adults aged .20 years was performed. Every subject completed a household interview and a questionnaire regarding personal health, and their BMI and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level were measured. The BMI data were divided into quintiles, using multiple linear regression to estimate the relationship between CRP level and BMI quintiles. An extended-model approach was used for
covariate adjustment. The association between central obesity and CRP level was examined by this method as well.
Results. After controlling for demographics, chronic diseases, health behaviours and levels of folate and vitamin B12, the ƒÀ coefficient (which represents the change of naturallog- transformed levels of CRP for each kg/m2 increase in BMI) was 0.078 (p<0.001). The CRP levels also increased across increasing quintiles of BMI (p for trend <0.001).
The ƒÀ coefficient, representing the change of natural-logtransformed
levels of CRP comparing subjects with central obesity to those without, was 0.876 (p<0.001).
Conclusion. Higher BMIs as well as central obesity are independently associated with higher levels of CRP.
