Abstract
Despite the recent advances in the treatment of atherosclerotic vascular disease, more effective measures should be provided for the primary prevention in high-risk individuals. Serious adverse vascular events can be seen in individuals with low risk calculations based on standard cardiovascular risk factors including age, sex, history of smoking, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, diabetes and hypertension. These findings suggest the necessity of additional risk parameters. Recently, characterization of the clear association between atherosclerosis and inflammation lead to the use of several circulatory inflammatory markers for cardiovascular risk stratification. Among these markers high-sensitivity CRP is the most studied one. There are several studies reporting the value of high-sensitivity CRP in defining cardiac adverse events both in patients with acute coronary syndromes and those without known cardiovascular disease. Moderately elevated high-sensitivity CRP levels are associated with increased cardiovascular event rates independent from the other risk factors. Highsensitivity CRP adds more information to the risk defined by lipid levels, so helps to define the candidates for statin therapy. This review summarizes high-sensitivity CRP, factors affecting high-sensitivity CRP, its role in risk stratifications and suggestions for its clinical use.
Keywords: C-reactive protein, vascular risk, primary and secondary prevention, statins
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