C-reactive protein measurement and cardiovascular disease.

摘要

The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (Jan 9, p 132) reports the results of an extensive meta-analysis in an ongoing effort to understand the relation between circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and cardiovascular risk. The collaborators conclude that CRP's association with cardiovascular risk is driven predominantly by systemic inflammation and that CRP is unlikely to contribute directly to cardiovascular disease as a pathogenic factor. Similar conclusions were drawn from recent Mendelian randomisation studies.