Lipid Profile and C-Reactive Protein Levels in Healthy, Overweight and Obese Adults: A Hospital-based Observational Study

Introduction: Numerous biomarkers involved in inflammation have been associated with cardiovascular events, out of which high sensitivity-C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), an acute-phase protein, appears to be the most promising. The association between dyslipidaemia and obesity is well established in literature and has been found to be risk factor for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). Aim: To study the levels of lipid profile and hs-CRP and also find out the relationship between hs-CRP and Body Mass Index (BMI) in obesity. Materials and Methods: The present observational study was carried out from June 2018 to August 2018 in Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College, Haryana, India. A total of 100 apparently healthy volunteers, aged 21-60 years were enrolled for this study. The participants were divided on the basis of BMI into three groups; Healthy (normal): 18.5-22.9 kg/m(2), overweight: 23-24.9 kg/m(2), and obese >= 25 kg/m(2). Anthropometric measurements and biochemical investigations were conceded in all the study participants. Lipid profile and hs-CRP levels were estimated on fully automated clinical chemistry analyser. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS statistics (version 22.0). A p<0.05 was considered as significant level. Results: The median levels of HDL were the lowest in the obese group and a statistically significant difference was observed in HDL levels between healthy and obese group (z=3.190, p=0.001) and between overweight and obese group (z=2.760, p=0.006). The median hs-CRP levels were highest in the obese group and statistically significant difference was observed between healthy and overweight group (z=2.009, p=0.044) and between healthy and obese group (z=2.849, p=0.004). A significant positive correlation was observed between BMI and hs-CRP levels (r=0.302, p<0.002). It was further observed that 17 subjects of obese group had hs-CRP levels greater than 3 mg/L as compared to eight of healthy group and nine of overweight group. Conclusion: The subjects of the obese group are at the highest risk of CVD. Hence, they need to be considered for future development. However, abnormalities of lipid metabolism were not observed in the obese study subjects.