c reactive protein

CRP improves cardiovascular risk prediction in metabolic syndrome

In women with metabolic syndrome, blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) can help predict cardiovascular risk, researchers reported today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. CRP is an indicator of inflammation. High levels of CRP have been linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes.

Diabetic gene linked to heart disease

Heart disease is the most frequent, costly and severe complication of diabetes, affecting more than 70 percent of diabetic patients. There are geographic and ethnic differences in the risk of diabetic heart disease that cannot be fully explained by differences in conventional heart disease risk factors. Using a simple blood test, researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have identified a gene that determines which diabetes patients are at greater risk for developing heart disease. Unlike other recent breakthroughs, such as the test for C-reactive protein, the test for this gene needs to be administered only once in a patient’s lifetime.

Blood Proteins Put Dialysis Patients at Higher Risk of Heart Disease

A new study shows that two proteins are accurate predictors of heart attack or stroke in kidney dialysis patients. The research team found that high levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, and low levels of albumin, a sign of malnutrition, had strong ties to heart disease in these patients, who are many times more likely to develop heart problems than the general population. “Both inflammation and malnutrition play an important role in the high risk of cardiovascular disease among dialysis patients,” says Josef Coresh, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology, medicine and biostatistics at Hopkins. “Testing for these proteins will allow us to sooner identify patients at high risk, and to manage heart disease risk factors more effectively.”