C-reactive Protein Not Critical for Predicting Cardiovascular Disease Risk

C-reactive protein and other “novel” markers, such as indicators of inflammation, endothelial function, fibrin formation, fibrinolysis, B vitamins, and antibodies to infectious agents, are not as good as traditional measures of cardiovascular risk.

Dr. Aaron R. Folsom of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study:

Basically, we found that, in the general population, measuring CRP or several other ‘novel’ markers did not predict future cardiovascular disease better than established markers, like age, race, sex, diabetes, total and HDL cholesterol, smoking and blood pressure.

So don’t stress if your doctor doesn’t order a long list of laboratory tests on your next visit. Lifestyle behaviors that you can control and other modifiable risk factors still matter more than another section of little numbers on your medical records.

Medscape, July 10, 2006

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