Elevated C-Reactive Protein Associates With Early-Stage Carotid Atherosclerosis in Young Subjects With Type 1 Diabetes
- Rieko Hayaishi-Okano, MD1,
- Yoshimitsu Yamasaki, MD, PHD1,
- Naoto Katakami, MD1,
- Kentaro Ohtoshi, MD1,
- Shin-Ichi Gorogawa, MD1,
- Akio Kuroda, MD1,
- Munehide Matsuhisa, MD, PHD1,
- Keisuke Kosugi, MD, PHD2,
- Norikiyo Nishikawa, MD, PHD2,
- Yoshitaka Kajimoto, MD, PHD1 and
- Masatsugu Hori, MD, PHD1
- 1Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
- 2Osaka Police Hospital, Osaka, Japan
Abstract
OBJECTIVE—To evaluate whether low-grade inflammation contributes to early-stage advanced carotid atherosclerosis in young subjects with type 1 diabetes.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—The mean and maximum (max) intima-media thicknesses (IMT) of the carotid artery were assessed using ultrasound B-mode imaging in 55 patients with type 1 diabetes (22 men and 33 women, aged 22.1 ± 3.6 years (± SD), duration of diabetes 14.2 ± 5.7 years) and 75 age-matched healthy nondiabetic subjects (28 men and 47 women). High-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels were measured with a latex-enhanced immunonephelometer.
RESULTS—The patients with type 1 diabetes had significantly higher hs-CRP levels (median 0.35, range 0.05–1.47 mg/l vs. median 0.14, range 0.05–1.44 mg/l; P = 0.001) as well as significantly higher mean IMT and max IMT than the nondiabetic subjects (mean IMT 0.76 ± 0.09 vs. 0.72 ± 0.04 mm, P = 0.003; max IMT 0.84 ± 0.11 vs. 0.77 ± 0.06 mm, P < 0.0001). Hs-CRP levels were significantly correlated with the mean and max IMT of patients with type 1 diabetes and with the max IMT of nondiabetic patients. Multivariate regression analyses for both diabetic and nondiabetic subjects as a single group showed that hs-CRP levels are independently correlated with the mean IMT and max IMT levels (P = 0.002 and P = 0.023, respectively) as well as with diastolic blood pressure, sex, and duration of diabetes.
CONCLUSIONS—Our data indicate that hs-CRP levels are elevated in young patients with type 1 diabetes, possibly corresponding with early-stage advanced carotid atherosclerosis.
- AER, albumin excretion rate
- CVD, cardiovascular disease
- hs-CRP, high-sensitive C-reactive protein
- IMT, intima-media thickness
- LDL-c, LDL cholesterol
- max, maximum
Footnotes
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Address correspondence and reprint requests to Yoshimitsu Yamasaki, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2, Yamadaoka Suita City, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. E-mail: yamasaki{at}medone.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
Received for publication 21 February 2002 and accepted in revised form 23 April 2002.
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