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Multiple risk factors have long been known to increase an individual's risk of developing heart disease. These include diabetes, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol. Heart disease occurs when the lining of the heart artery becomes injured which causes a buildup of cholesterol in the blood vessel wall. This will eventually lead to a blockage of the blood vessel and reduced blood flow to the heart muscle causing heart pains or a heart attack. More recently, we have come to understand that inflammation within the heart artery plays a major role in this disease process. There are numerous blood tests available to measure active inflammation within the body. CRP (C-reactive protein) is one marker of inflammation, which is inexpensive (<$20) and is readily available from most local laboratories.
Numerous clinical trials have studied the significance of having an elevated CRP in patients with or at risk of heart disease. These trials have suggested that individuals with an elevated level of CRP had a higher risk of having a heart attack than individuals with normal levels of CRP. Therefore, the CRP level may help in assessing an individual's risk of having a cardiac event in the near future, i.e. next 2-5 years. We can combine the CRP level with the traditional risk factors and hopefully have a better assessment of the individual's risk of heart events.
Current recommendations for patients with elevated CRP levels are to more intensely treat their traditional risk factors and to prescribe aspirin daily (aspirin is
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