High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and 24-Hours Ambulatory Blood Pressure Variability in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Introduction: The association between C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and cardiovascular events with hypertension being the risk factor has been studied extensively and correlated with the end-organ damage. Blood pressure variability has been linked to target organ damage and cardiovascular outcome irrespective of severity of hypertension. Aim: To understand the correlation between hs CRP, blood pressure variability during 24-hours ABPM in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) compared to control subjects. Materials and Methods: The case-control study included data from T2DM patients with HTN (n=50), and healthy controls (n=50). Hs-CRP was assessed using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. All subjects underwent 24-hour ambulatory Blood Pressure (BP) monitoring; BP variability was calculated using standard deviation. Results: Among cases there was significant positive correlation between Hs-CRP, Systolic BP (SBP) Variability, Diastolic BP (DBP) Variability and Duration of DM i.e., with increase in HsCRP, there was significant increase in SBP Variability, DBP Variability and Duration of DM and vice-versa. Among controls there was significant negative correlation between Hs-CRP, SBP, SBP Variability and BMI i.e., with increase in Hs-CRP, there was significant decrease in SBP, SBP Variability and BMI and vice-versa. Conclusion: Hs-CRP is associated with 24-hour SBP variability, 24-hour diastolic BP variability and duration of T2DM. Blood pressure variability was independent predictors for Hs-CRP. The highest Hs-CRP levels were detected in T2DM patients and high BP variability.