The Association between High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance in Non-Diabetetic Korean Men

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance syndrome is recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Even though early management and prevention during the pre-DM stage is emphasized, few studies have investigated the risk of insulin resistance and CVD in individuals with normal blood glucose. This study investigates the effectiveness of the high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) test as a preventative measure by examining the relationship between hs-CRP and a homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in adult men without DM.METHODS: Our study included 1,924 men who were ≥20 years of age, from the 2015 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Based on fasting glucose levels, subjects were divided into two categories normal and impaired fasting glucose (IFG).RESULTS: Student's t-test was used to compare the means of the normal and IFG categories, and hs-CRP and HOMA-IR showed significantly lower values for all variations, except height and smoking, at a significance level of 0.001. All subjects were classified into quadrant groups according to hs-CRP values, and ANCOVA was performed to compare the HOMA-IR average of each group. The mean IR did not significantly differ between cohorts, except for in the IFG category of one group.CONCLUSION: In adult men without DM, hs-CRP did not significantly correlate with HOMA-IR, except in the IFG category. This indicates that the risk of CVD increases continuously in the normal blood sugar range. Further studies are needed to improve the usefulness of the high sensitivity hs-CRP test.