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  • Letter to the Editor
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Response to the letter by Dr Oda

International Journal of Obesity volume 30, page 1319 (2006)Cite this article

We appreciate the comments of Dr Oda regarding the C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in our study. In our study mean CRP did not differ between subjects with and without metabolic syndrome.1 Our results are contrary to the findings of Oda et al.2 who showed higher CRP values in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. There are several reasons for these discrepant findings. First, in contrast to Oda et al. we did not exclude CRP values from subjects treated for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia or hyperuricemia. Additionally, the s.d. of the CRP values in our subjects far exceeded the s.d. for CRP levels given by Oda et al. (2.2–7.8 mg/l in our subjects vs 1.3–1.4 mg/l reported by Oda et al.). Furthermore, we did not exclude subjects beyond the normal range of CRP levels. Recalculating our data excluding 15 women and 10 men with CRP >6 mg/l yielded significantly higher CRP levels in female subjects with the metabolic syndrome when compared to female subjects without metabolic syndrome (2.35±1.44 vs 1.60±1.26 mg/l; P<0.001). However, there were no significant differences in males (1.66±1.21 vs 1.54±1.30 mg/l for subjects with and without metabolic syndrome, respectively; P=0.353). As CRP was not a major topic of our study, these results do not violate our conclusions. To summarize different subject inclusion criteria rather than analytical imprecision (CRP was measured turbimetrically using a latex-agglutination test with a sensitivity of 0.1 mg/l and a between-day precision below 1.9% CV) contributed to the discrepant findings of our studies.

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References

  1. Bosy-Westphal A, Geisler C, Onur S, Korth O, Selberg O, Schrezenmeir J et al. Value of body fat mass vs anthropometric obesity indices in the assessment of metabolic risk factors. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2006; 30: 475–483.

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  2. Oda E, Oohara K, Abe A, Veeraveedu PT, Watanabe K, Kato K et al. The Optimal Cut-off Point of C-reacting protein as an Optional Component of Metabolic Syndrome in Japan. Circ J 2006; 70: 384–388.

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  1. Institut für Humanernährung und Lebensmittelkunde, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    A Bosy-Westphal & M J Müller

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  1. A Bosy-Westphal
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  2. M J Müller
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Correspondence to A Bosy-Westphal.

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Bosy-Westphal, A., Müller, M. Response to the letter by Dr Oda. Int J Obes 30, 1319 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803422

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