Study: C-Reactive Protein Doesn’t Cause Heart Disease
The inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein, or CRP, doesn’t appear to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, though it has long been thought to be one.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association today finds that CRP is associated with the disease but doesn’t appear to cause it. This means that developing therapies that specifically target the protein likely won’t help prevent heart disease, according to the authors, who collaborated internationally.
A separate study, also appearing in today’s JAMA, found that that CRP and other biomarkers are limited in their benefit in predicting individuals’ risk of coronary heart disease. The data suggest that there is some — but not a lot — of added value in using biomarkers to predict risk above and beyond conventional risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes, according to study author Thomas Wang, associate director of the heart failure service at Massachusetts General Hospital.
CRP testing might be helpful in situations where a doctor is on the fence about whether a patient should be prescribed a cholesterol drug, for instance, and this additional piece of information could tip the decision one way or the other. But, that doesn’t mean everyone’s CRP […]
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