Mediation role of C-reactive protein on the association between smoking quantity and type 2 diabetes in current Chinese smokers

Objective. previous studies have indicated that cigarette smokers are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and that both smoking and type 2 diabetes are associated with c-reactive protein (crp). this study examined whether crp mediates the association between smoking quantity and type 2 diabetes. methods. nine hundred and eighty-four current chinese smokers were selected from a community-based chronic disease survey conducted in guangzhou and zhuhai. type 2 diabetes was defined according to the who 1999 criteria. crp was measured with flow cytometry. binary logistic regression was performed to assess the mediation. results. a positive association was observed between smoking quantity and type 2 diabetes (p<0.05). after controlling for potential confounders,daily cigarette consumption was significantly associated with higher crp levels. current smokers with type 2 diabetes had higher crp levels than smokers without type 2 diabetes. the association between the smoking quantity and type 2 diabetes was mediated by crp,which accounted for 50.77% of the association. conclusions. this study provides further evidence that smoking quantity is positively associated with type 2 diabetes and suggests that the association between smoking and type 2 diabetes might be mediated by crp. © 2014 dan feng,et al.