Re: C-reative protein cardiovascular disease risk

[Guest guest]

when i saw Dr Shoemaker back in 2004, i had requested additional

bloodwork to be done. CR-P was one of them. result was in the normal

range (it was .9), but Shoemaker did tell me (when i did my phone

consultation months later) i likely held the record among ALL his

patients for one of the blood tests---without having to look for the

paperwork, i'm thinking it was one of the " Ig " .

an oh yeah, i have the dreaded genotype too. :-(

>

> Here is the URL for the article on C-reative protein. You may want

> to do some more reserach on it.

>

> http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4648

>

> Inflammation, Heart Disease and Stroke: The Role of C-Reactive

> Protein

>

>

> How does inflammation relate to heart disease and stroke risk?

>

> " Inflammation " is the process by which the body responds to injury.

> Laboratory evidence and findings from clinical and population

> studies suggest that inflammation is important in atherosclerosis

> (ath " er-o-skleh-RO'sis). This is the process in which fatty deposits

> build up in the lining of arteries.

>

> C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the acute phase proteins that

> increase during systemic inflammation. It's been suggested that

> testing CRP levels in the blood may be a new way to assess

> cardiovascular disease risk. A high sensitivity assay for CRP test

> (hs-CRP) is now widely available.

>

> The American Association and the Centers for Disease Control and

> Prevention recently published a joint scientific statement about

> using inflammatory markers in clinical and public health practice.

> This statement was developed after systematically reviewing the

> evidence of association between inflammatory markers (mainly CRP)

> and coronary heart disease and stroke.

>

> What's the role of CRP in predicting recurrent cardiovascular and

> stroke events?

>

> A growing number of studies have examined whether hs-CRP can predict

> recurrent cardiovascular disease and stroke and death in different

> settings. High levels of hs-CRP consistently predict new coronary

> events in patients with unstable angina and acute myocardial

> infarction (heart attack). Higher hs-CRP levels also are associated

> with lower survival rate of these people. Many studies suggested

> that after adjusting for other prognostic factors, hs-CRP was still

> useful as a risk predictor.

>

> Recent studies also suggest that higher levels of hs-CRP may

> increase the risk that an artery will reclose after it's been opened

> by balloon angioplasty. High levels of hs-CRP in the blood seem to

> predict prognosis and recurrent events in patients with stroke and

> peripheral arterial disease.

>

> What's the role of hs-CRP in predicting new cardiovascular events?

>

> Most studies show that the higher the hs-CRP levels, the higher the

> risk of developing heart attack. In fact, scientific studies have

> found that the risk for heart attack in people in the upper third of

> hs-CRP levels is twice that of those whose hs-CRP is in the lower

> third. These prospective studies include men, women and the elderly.

> Recent studies also found an association between sudden cardiac

> death, peripheral arterial disease and hs-CRP. However not all of

> the established cardiovascular risk factors were controlled for when

> the association was examined. The true independent association

> between hs-CRP and new cardiovascular events hasn't yet been

> established.

>

> What causes low-grade inflammation?

>

> No one knows for sure what causes the low-grade inflammation that

> seems to put otherwise healthy people at risk. However, the new

> findings are consistent with the hypothesis that an infection --

> possibly one caused by a bacteria or a virus -- might contribute to

> or even cause atherosclerosis.

>

> Possible infectious bacteria include Chlamydia pneumoniae (klah-

> MID'e-ah nu-MO'ne-i) and Helicobacter pylori (HEL'ih-ko-bak " ter pi-

> LO'ri). Possible viral agents include herpes simplex virus and

> cytomegalovirus (si " to-meg " ah-lo-VI'rus). Thus, it may be that

> antimicrobial or antiviral therapies will someday join other

> therapies used to prevent heart attacks.

>