Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT2529

Introduction: Systemic inflammation may play a central role in the pathogenesis of diabetes and atherosclerosis. C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Elevated CRP levels are also present in patients with glucose intolerance (IGT). and diabetes. Several prospective studies have shown that an elevated CRP level is an independent risk factor for the development of diabetes. Although these findings indicate that peripheral blood CRP levels are closely related to glucose levels, it remains unclear whether this relationship exists at glycemic levels in the prediabetic range.

Methods: The study included 106 patients with angiographically diagnosed coronary artery disease, who, based on the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), were classified into a group with type 2 diabetes (T2D, n =34), a group with impaired glycemia and glucose intolerance (IFG/IGT, n =38) and a group with normal glucose tolerance (NGT, n =34). The control group consisted of subjects with normal glucose tolerance and no coronary disease (n =100), individually matched by age and body mass index (BMI) with coronary patients included in the study. The circulating level of lipids, insulin, hsCRP, the albumin level in the morning urine sample, and the insulin resistance index HOMA were determined in all of them.

Results: The level of hsCRP was elevated in the group of coronary patients with diabetes (P<0.05), as well as in the group of patients with prediabetes (P<0.05), compared to the control group. hsCRP values were not significantly different in coronary patients, regardless of glycemic status (P>0.05). There is a higher BMI in the group of coronary patients with diabetes and prediabetes (P<0.05). A significant correlation of hsCRP with glycemia in 120 min OGTT test was found. (P<0.05), independent of existing obesity.

Conclusion: Patients with coronary disease and prediabetes and new onset T2D did not differ significantly in the level of systemic inflammation. Chronic subclinical inflammation, detected by an elevated level of C-reactive protein, is more strongly associated with post load glycemia than with fasting glycemia.

Keywords: C-reactive protein, prediabetes, coronary disease