Evaluation of Association between Serum HS-CRP and Lipid Profile in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

High sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an established marker of low grade systemic inflammation. A chronic low-grade inflammatory condition has been proposed to underline increased risk for atherosclerotic disease, including renal dysfunction and cardiovascular disease suggesting a possible link between the high incidence of macrovascular complications and diabetes. Insulin resistance results in high concentrations of serum lipids in diabetics due to increased mobilization of free fatty acids from fat depots. Because serum hs-CRP and serum lipid profile reflect closely related component of the same disease process, a strong relationship between these variables may be anticipated. We selected 50 patients of Type-2 diabetes mellitus and 50 normal healthy individuals to evaluate this association. Serum estimations showed a significant increase (pless than 0.001) in hs-CRP, Total cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) in diabetics when compared to controls. In contrast there was significant decrease (pless than 0.001) in HDL-C in diabetics. The statistical analysis depicted a non significant correlation between serum hs-CRP and total cholesterol ( p= 0.909, r=0.017), serum triglyceride (p=0.294, r=0.151) and serum HDL (p=0.724, r=-0.051) in type 2 diabetic patients. This finding may therefore, suggest that hs-CRP act as an independent marker for cardiovascular risk factor.