C-REACTIVE PROTEIN (CRP) LEVEL IN DIABETIC, HYPERTENSIVE AND DIABETIC-HYPERTENSIVE

Joseph Chukwufumnanya Mordi

Department of Medical Biochemistry,

Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in both developing and developed countries. This may be due to its association with increased risk of coronary heart diseases. One of the major complications of diabetes mellitus is hypertension. In order to investigate the prevalence of these diseases, the C-reaction protein level of diabetic, hypertensive, diabetic-hypertensive individuals were estimated from patient at Eku Baptist Hospital, Delta State, Nigeria. Eighty subjects were assessed comprising of both male and female within the ages of 27 and 67. Their C – reactive protein levels were determined using standard techniques and the data obtained were analysed using student t-test. The result obtained showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in mean C – reactive protein value of hypertensive (1.57 + 0.18) and diabetic-hypertensive (2. 06­ + 0.03) respectively, when compared to normal control (0.60 + 0.04).  Results obtained from diabetic patients alone revealed a higher mean value which was not statistically significant (1.06 + 0.12, p>0.05) from the control. From this finding, it was observed that hypertensive and diabetic-hypertensive subject had higher C – reactive protein levels which thus suggest risk of subjects developing cardiovascular diseases.

Key words: Diabetic, hypertensive, diabetic-hypertensive and C – reactive protein (CRP)