Inflammatory Biomarkers Predictive of Metabolic Syndrome in a Nigerian Population: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: Inflammation is linked to the aetiopathogenesis of Metabolic syndrome (MetS). Objective: To assess the ability of high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP), Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNFα) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) to predict MetS. Methods: A case-control study involving 123 subjects with MetS (cases) and age-matched 123 subjects. without MetS (controls) was conducted. The levels of TNFα, IL-6, and hs-CRP between independent groups were compared. The Receiver Operative Characteristic Curve was used to assess the ability of inflammatory markers to discriminately identify MetS. Results: The mean age of the case and control groups was 49.9±0.9 years and 48.1±1.1 years (p = 0.274) respectively. The median levels of TNFα, IL-6 and hS-CRP were significantly higher among the cases than the control group in both genders (p <0.001). There was a significant increase in the serum values of the markers with increasing components of MetS (p <0.001). The Area Under the Curve of TNFα, IL-6 and hs-CRP was > 0.9 in both males and females. Conclusion: TNFα, IL-6, and hs-CRP identified MetS. There is a need for further studies to determine the inflammatory marker most predictive of MetS.