Does CRP cause heart disease?
Few issues are more hotly debated by researchers than the role C-reactive protein (CRP) plays in heart disease. Inflammation swells cholesterol-crammed artery walls, making the lining of those arteries vulnerable to breaking down or bursting. When the lining of an artery wall is disrupted, a cascade of events is set off, culminating in the formation of a blood clot, which can go on to cause a potentially deadly heart attack or stroke. Some studies suggest CRP plays a major role in the development of heart disease. Others suggest it’s merely a marker for the process that is the real culprit, while still others reject CRP as a distraction. The consensus of opinion is that high CRP levels indicate high risk of heart disease. In the JUPITER study, participants’ CRP levels were very high — at least 2 mg/L. But all by itself, CRP did not identify the patients whose risk of heart disease was lowered by statin therapy. All of the patients who benefited had at least one other traditional risk
