ESPE Abstracts

Objectives: Obesity is a chronic low-grade inflammatory condition that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) has been associated with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in adults. We investigated whether hs-CRP represents a risk factor for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in Korean children and adolescents using nationally representative data.

Methods: A total of 1,138 youths (54.1% boys and 45.9% girls) aged 10–18 years who were registered in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015–2016) were included. Anthropometric, biochemical, nutritional, and physical activity data were collected. Participants were divided into 3 hs-CRP tertiles. Abdominal obesity, impaired fasting glucose, elevated triglyceride, decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and prediabetes (glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c] 5.7–6.4%) were compared between hs-CRP tertiles in both sexes.

Results: The ranges of each hs-CRP tertile were <0.3 mg/L, 0.31–0.5 mg/L, and ≥0.5 mg/L. Hs-CRP was positively associated with the body mass index (BMI) z-score (P < 0.001) and HbA1c (P = 0.012), and negatively associated with HDL cholesterol level (P = 0.045), after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, white blood cell count, physical activity, and nutritional factors. The upper tertile of hs-CRP was associated with obesity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 11.93, P <0.001) and prediabetes (aOR 3.10, P = 0.002).

Conclusions: Hs-CRP is associated with BMI z-score, HbA1c, and HDL cholesterol in Korean children and adolescents, and can hence be a reliable indicator for adiposity, prediabetes, and abnormal lipid metabolism in pediatric populations.