Strong association between obesity and C-reactive protein in African-Americans and in Hispanic-Americans
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The study was aimed to investigate whether the association of obesity with novel cardiovascular risk factors such as C-reactive protein (CRP) varies by race and ethnicity. To this end, data from 10,492 white, African-American and Hispanic-American participants of the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, aged ≥20 years, with a BMI≥18.5 kg/m2 and CRP≤10 mg/L were analyzed. Before and after adjusting for age, education and health behaviours, higher BMI was significantly associated with higher CRP in all racial/ethnic groups in both men and women, as was larger waist circumference. Similar results were obtained after additionally adjusting for medication that might affect CRP levels. In conclusion, the association between obesity and CRP appears to be at least as strong in African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans as in white Americans. Therefore, racial differences in the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular mortality are unlikely to be due to racial differences in obesity’s impact on CRP.
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