Purpose: Prader-Willi syndrome is characterized by infantile hypotonia, feeding difficulties, hypogonadism, small hands and feet, mental deficiency, behavioral problems, and hyperphagia leading to obesity in early childhood. To date there have been no studies examining the associated risk of cardiovascular disease related to obesity in Prader-Willi syndrome, nor of circulating biomarkers such as C-reactive protein known to be predictive of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, we have measured the levels of C-reactive protein in a descriptive study of a cohort of Prader-Willi syndrome and comparison subjects.
Methods: An immunoassay was used to quantify C-reactive protein in plasma samples from subjects with Prader-Willi syndrome and obesity and compared to anthropometric and body composition data.
Results: The mean circulating C-reactive protein concentration for 28 subjects with Prader-Willi syndrome (13 females, 15 males; mean age 24.6 +/- 11.6 years; mean body mass index 35.9 +/- 11.9) was 10.3 +/- 8.8 mg/L. The mean C-reactive protein concentration for 22 nonsyndromic obese subjects (16 females, 6 males; mean age 32.3 +/- 12.2 years; mean body mass index 36.6 +/- 10.7) was 8.8 +/- 10.9 mg/L. The reported mean value for C-reactive protein was 2.6 +/- 3.0 mg/L from 100 healthy adults.
Conclusions: The mean C-reactive protein values were similar between the subjects with Prader-Willi syndrome and obesity but significantly higher in Prader-Willi syndrome and obese subjects relative to normative data. Increased levels of C-reactive protein (>3.0 mg/L) are associated with cardiovascular disease suggesting subjects with Prader-Willi syndrome as well as obese subjects are at a similar increased risk.