C-REACTIVE PROTEIN AND CORONARY CALCIUM SCORE ASSOCIATION IN CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Abstract BACKGROUND: Both high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and spiral computed tomography coronary artery calcium score (CCS) are valid markers of cardiovascular risk. It is unknown whether hs-CRP is a marker of atherosclerotic burden or whether it reflects a process (eg, inflammatory fibrous cap degradation) leading to acute coronary events. METHOD AND MATERIALS: In a cross-sectional study, we studied association between hs-CRP and coronary calcium score in 143 patients that were candidate for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). RESULTS: In our study, we found no significant association between hs-CRP and CCS in bivariants (P = 0.162) and multivariable (P = 0.062) analysis but in patients that didn’t take statins, this association was significant and positive in bivariant (P = 0.001) but in multivariant analysis this association was negative and significant (P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: hs-CRP was not associated with CCS. The relation between CRP and clinical events might not be related to atherosclerotic burden. Markers of inflammation, like CRP, and indices of atherosclerosis, such as CAC, are likely to provide distinct information regarding cardiovascular risk. Keywords: coronary calcification, inflammation, risk factors, Multislice spiral CT, h-CRP.