Plan for Progress  

C reactive protein

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein which is created by the liver and is seen in the blood. CRP amounts in the blood increases if there is an inflammation anywhere in the body and as such high amounts of CRP is cause for alarm and may be evidence of burns, inflammation, trauma, infection, active inflammatory arthritis, some cancers and more recently CRP has been connected to atherosclerosis and heart disease.

The purpose of CRP is to join to phosphocholine on microbes and it aids phagocytosis by macrophages which means that it helps with the destruction and absorption of bacteria, dead cells and tiny mineral particles.

C-reactive protein is thought to play an important part as an early defense system against infections in the body. In situations of acute inflammation CRP levels increase as much as 50,000 times above normal, generally within 6 hours and peaks at 48 hours. The CRP amount is a highly true evidence of an inflammation as the only known element to interfere with CRP production is liver failure.

Measuring CRP amounts therefore is useful in determining how a disease is progressing, and whether or not medications given for the disease are working. Measuring CRP requires taking and analyzing the patient’s blood; in normal results there is generally no CRP at all found in the blood

A high sensitivity test may be used to check your CRP level called an hs-CRP test. This test will find even trace amounts of CRP which a regular blood test would not locate. In healthy individuals CRP levels are less than 10 mg/L and elevates slightly as one ages. Higher amounts are found in women during late pregnancy, in women taking oral contraceptives and in cases of mild inflammation and viral infections. Your CRP amounts will show whether you are low risk, high risk or average risk for developing heart disease.

In more recent times high amounts of CRP have been connected to diabetes, hypertension and as mentioned before, heart disease and strokes; high amounts of hs-CRP have consistently been used to predict recurrent coronary problems in patients. There are also studies which suggest that elevated amounts of hs-CRP can be used to forecast repeats of strokes and peripheral artery disease.

As increased CRP amounts may be influenced by an infection or inflammation, a single measurement is not enough to forecast a person’s risk of heart problems. Therefore diagnosing heart problems is done by performing two separate CRP tests two weeks apart and using the average number of both readings to assess a person’s likelihood of suffering heart disease.

In instances of elevated CRP, it is useless to try and treat the increased CRP in itself, the key is to treat the underlying condition that is causing the abnormal elevation and decreasing the risk of heart problems. The most effective methods for lessening the risk of heart problems are regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, and giving up smoking if you are a smoker. In some instances medication may be the only answer.