The relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and ApoB, ApoB/ApoA1 ratio in general population of China

Inflammatory biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is considered as a major predictor of cardiovascular events. Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) directly reflects the number of plasma atherogenic lipoproteins, and may play a major role in vascular inflammation. We aimed to assess whether an association between ApoB and hsCRP exists and, furthermore, to examine whether ApoB is more predictive of the inflammatory status than other cardiovascular risk factors. This was a cross-sectional study, with 511 apparently healthy adult subjects enrolled. Waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure (BP) were measured. Plasma glucose levels, hsCRP, lipid profile, and insulin were collected after 10-14 h fasting. From the lowest to the highest quartile of hsCRP, the values for BMI, WC, BP, HOMA-IR, insulin, glucose level, triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), ApoB and the ApoB/apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) ratio were increased as the hsCRP level increased (P<0.01), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and ApoA1 levels declined as hsCRP level increased (P<0.0001). Pearson's correlation analysis demonstrated that hsCRP correlated with all variables (P<0.01), except for total cholesterol (TC) (P = 0.154) and LDL-C (P = 0.087). According to forward stepwise regression analysis with hsCRP as the dependent variable, WC was the only variable entered the regression model. ApoB level correlated with hsCRP level but was not the major determinant of hsCRP. WC was stronger than other cardiovascular risk factors in the associations with hsCRP. Abdominal obesity rather than atherogenic dyslipidemia was the primary cause of chronic inflammatory status. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.