CRP and peripheral arterial disease: In a study of 150 T2DM patients and 150 healthy controls, Soyoye and colleagues found PAD was associated with increasing age, male gender, obesity, and high C-reactive protein levels in people with T2DM.6 In another study of 280 patients with T2DM, Akalu found increasing age, high HbA1c, and being cigarette smokers increase the likelihood of developing PAD.1 However, the results of these studies are inconsistent, no definite conclusions are available.