Background. Obesity leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and glucose intolerance, which are phenomena of chronic inflammation. This study was performed to determine whether a higher body mass index (BMI) and central obesity are associated with low-grade inflammation.
Methods. An analysis of 8 453 adults aged .20 years was performed. Every subject completed a household interview and a questionnaire regarding personal health, and their BMI and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level were measured. The BMI data were divided into quintiles, using multiple linear regression to estimate the relationship between CRP level and BMI quintiles. An extended-model approach was used for
covariate adjustment. The association between central obesity and CRP level was examined by this method as well.

Results. After controlling for demographics, chronic diseases, health behaviours and levels of folate and vitamin B12, the ƒÀ coefficient (which represents the change of naturallog- transformed levels of CRP for each kg/m2 increase in BMI) was 0.078 (p