Elevated C-reactive protein levels and metabolic syndrome in the elderly: The role of central obesity

Metabolic syndrome (MS) and "low grade" systemic inflammation (LGSI) are very common findings in the older population. Although MS and LGSI have been associated in adults, it is not known what is the real contribution of MS, and its single components, to LGSI in older persons, due to the potential confounding effect of comorbidity and aging. We investigated the relationship between increased C-reactive protein (CRP) plasma levels, a marker of LGSI, and MS in 1044 older (> or =65 years) community dwelling Italian individuals enrolled the InChianti study. Metabolic syndrome was defined by the NCEP-ATP III-AHA/NHLBI criteria. High sensitivity CRP (hs.CRP) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and defined as high when >3mg/L. The overall prevalence of MS was 31%. The prevalence of high hs.CRP was 54.5% in subjects with, and 41.3% in those without MS (p