Comparison between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and white blood cell count (WBC) as an inflammatory component of metabolic syndrome in Japanese

Abstract

Objective: To compare two systemic inflammatory markers, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and white blood cell count (WBC), as a component of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods: Data of hs-CRP and WBC from 2,185 Japanese men and 1,383 Japanese women were examined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for diagnosing MetS and Spearman's correlation coefficients. Results: The area under ROC curve (AUC) of hs-CRP was 0.71 in men and 0.74 in women. The AUC of WBC was 0.65 in men and 0.69 in women. The optimal cutoff point (sensitivity; specificity) of hs-CRP was 0.40 mg/L (0.69; 0.65) in men and 0.35 mg/L (0.67; 0.72) in women. The optimal cutoff point (sensitivity; specificity) of WBC was 5,600/L-6 (0.61; 0.61) in men and 5,000/L-6 (0.65; 0.63) in women. Correlations between obesity parameters, blood pressure, and liver function tests were stronger with hs-CRP than with WBC. But, no correlation between MetS-related risk factors was stronger with WBC than with hs-CRP. Conclusion: Hs-CRP is superior to WBC as an inflammatory component of MetS in Japanese. However, WBC may be useful when hs-CRP is not available because WBC is routinely measured in clinical practice. © 2010 The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine.