Early Warning Test for Heart Disease

Low-grade inflammation has been found to be associated with arterial stiffness, which may be a mechanism through which C-reactive protein (CRP) is related to heart attack and stroke, suggesting that testing for CRP may be an effective early warning test for asymptomatic heart disease.

These findings are from a new study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA). They were attempting to determine whether CRP is a risk factor that affects the function of blood vessels or is simply a marker signifying the presence of heart disease. After taking into account the traditional risk factors for heart disease, the team also measured CRP levels as well as three indicators of arterial stiffness in 214 men and women with an average age of 50 and no history of heart attack or stroke.

The results suggested that low grade inflammation is associated with arterial stiffness, which predisposes to heart attack, stroke, and congestive heart failure. The findings were reported in the August 2005 issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.

"The current inability to accurately predict cardiovascular events such as heart attack is a problem, and anything we can do to improve risk assessment is a public health priority,” stated lead Mayo Clinic researcher Iftikhar Kullo, M.D. "Our study provides a new insight into how low-grade inflammation could be related to heart and stroke by its association with arterial stiffness. Thus suppression of inflammation may be a target of drug therapy to improve arterial health.”





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