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July 11, 2005
A Great Predictor of Heart Disease: C-REACTIVE PROTEIN (CRP)
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a very effective predictor of heart disease. When the body experiences acute inflammation, injury, or infection anywhere in the body (including the arteries), the liver releases CRP. Normally, the blood contains no CRP. Therefore, its presence indicates a problem somewhere in the body.
Blood tests for C-reactive protein have been around for 30 years, but they have been used as a marker of end-of-life changes when the body begins shutting down before death. Today, the blood tests are far more sensitive and indicate signs of chronic minor inflammation. We can use the ultra-sensitive modern CRP blood tests to detect heart disease. The British Journal of Urology published a study that examined the CRP levels of almost 400 people. They found that once the CRP levels reached twice the normal level, their study participants were 150 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack.
Elevated levels of CRP can also indicate potential heart attacks years before they occur. Consider a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997, which followed more than 22,000 men as part of the ongoing Physician’s Health Study. When the men first enrolled in the study, they were free of heart disease and gave blood samples. Eight years later, 543 of the men experienced a heart attack, stroke, or a blood clot in a major vessel. Researchers compared the blood samples from these men to those from men in the study who did not have cardiovascular disease.
Men with the highest levels of CRP were twice as likely to have had a stroke and three times as likely to have had a heart attack as the men with normal CRP levels. Keep in mind that these elevated CRP levels were present in the blood six to eight years before the cardiovascular event took place.
Elevated CRP levels can also indicate additional medical problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, cancer, tuberculosis, or pneumonia. In addition, CRP can be an excellent tool to assess future cardiovascular problems.
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Posted by james at July 11, 2005 7:07 AM