Elevated C-Reactive Protein, Abdominal Obesity, and Glucose Tolerance Status in Japanese-Brazilians

Although evidences indicate that C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are independent predictors of type 2 diabetes (DM), some studies either did not support this association or examine it extensively throughout the stages of glucose tolerance. In a cross-sectional population-based survey, we investigated the relation between CRP and the risk of newly diagnosed impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and DM among Japanese-Brazilians (374 men and 464 women). In agegender–adjusted analyses, the risks of IGT and type 2 diabetes were significantly higher in the highest CRP tertile as compared with participants with a normal glucose tolerance status (P for trend = 0.0001 in both conditions). After further adjustments for confounding factors, including waist circumference, only the odds of having IGT in the highest CRP tertile was still significant (odds ratio 1.87 [95% CI 1.04–3.37). Our results suggest that low-grade inflammation increases the risk of IGT in Japanese-Brazilians but that some of the risk is confounded by abdominal adiposity.