BACKGROUND: Low-grade chronic inflammation has been proposed to play a major role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Low-grade chronic inflammation is also closely associated with obesity, an established causative factor in the development of hypertension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two markers of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen, and blood pressure (BP) and other hemodynamic variables in obese subjects. METHODS: From a large cardiovascular study based in the general population, we selected subjects with a body mass index (BMI) > or =30 kg/m2, free of major cardiovascular diseases, not taking BP-lowering or lipid-lowering drugs (n = 487; women = 51.1%; median (5th to 95th percentile) age = 62 years (36-80)). The cardiovascular study included measurements of traditional and new risk factors, including ankle brachial BP index, a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis. CRP was determined by a high-sensitive assay. RESULTS: In partial Spearman rank correlation analysis, adjusted for age and sex, we found no significant relationships between either CRP or fibrinogen and systolic BP, diastolic BP, pulse pressure, or ankle brachial index (rho: -0.057 to 0.068; P > 0.13). However, fibrinogen and CRP were found to be significantly related to heart rate (rho: 0.127-0.169; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In this study of generally healthy obese subjects from the general population, we found no significant relationships between markers of inflammation and systolic BP or diastolic BP, showing that obese subjects with higher levels of inflammatory markers do not have higher BP levels than their obese counterparts with lower levels of inflammatory markers.