ORIGINAL ARTICLE

C-reactive protein is elevated in the offspring of parents with essential hypertension

Juan Jose Díaz¹, Juan Arguelles², Ignacio Málaga¹, Carmen Perillán², Angeles Diéguez³, Manuel Vijande², Serafín Málaga¹

¹ Departamento de Pediatría, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain
² Departamento de Biología Funcional, Area de Fisiología, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
³ Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain

Correspondence to:
Dr Serafín Málaga
Departamento de Pediatría, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, C/Celestino Villamil, s.n. 33006-Oviedo, Spain; smalaga{at}hca.es

Background: Hypertension is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Studies in adults have shown that high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with increased risk of CVD and essential hypertension (EHT). Genetic background is widely accepted as a risk factor for CVD. The aim of the present study was to analyse the association of high sensitivity CRP levels with other cardiovascular risk factors in children and young adults with at least one parent with EHT.

Methods: Fifty one healthy children and young adults (28 boys) with at least one parent with hypertension and 69 (41 boys) whose parents did not have hypertension were recruited prospectively from primary care centres. High sensitivity CRP, fasting lipid profile, blood pressure (BP) and anthropometric variables were obtained for all participants.

Results: CRP values were higher in the study group than in controls (logCRP mean difference: –0.69; 95% confidence interval: –1.05 to –0.33), even when differences were adjusted for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and triglyceride levels (p = 0.01). No differences were observed in BP values between groups. In the study group, 35.3% of the participants had a CRP level 1 mg/l compared to 14.5% in the control group (p = 0.009). CRP showed a significant correlation with body weight (rho = 0.28, p = 0.04), BMI (rho = 0.32; p = 0.02) and ponderosity index (rho = 0.28; p<0.05).

Conclusions: CRP is significantly higher in the offspring of parents with EHT. A significant positive relationship exists between BMI and serum CRP levels in this high risk group of children and young adults.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; CRP, C-reactive protein; CVD, cardiovascular disease; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; EHT, essential hypertension; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; PI, ponderosity index; SBP, systolic blood pressure; SD, standard deviation; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglycerides

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

A brief digest of the April issue
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: e4. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lieb, W., Pencina, M. J., Wang, T. J., Larson, M. G., Lanier, K. J., Benjamin, E. J., Levy, D., Tofler, G. H., Meigs, J. B., Newton-Cheh, C., Vasan, R. S. (2008). Association of Parental Hypertension With Concentrations of Select Biomarkers in Nonhypertensive Offspring. Hypertension 52: 381-386 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Vaughan, T. B., Ovalle, F., Moreland, E. (2007). Vascular disease in paediatric type 2 diabetes: the state of the art. Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research 4: 297-304 [Abstract]