What is C-reactive protein (CRP)?

C-reactive protein is a substance produced in the liver in response to injury or inflammation. Elevated levels of C-reactive protein are associated with a higher risk of heart attack and stroke, even in people with normal cholesterol levels.

CRP stands for “C-reactive protein.” CRP is a component of blood that is produced by the liver. The level of CRP in your blood rises when there is inflammation somewhere in the body. Doctors measure the levels of CRP circulating in your blood because inflammation plays a role in heart and blood vessel disease. This is why CRP might be a sign of heart or vessel disease that needs treatment. Keep in mind, however, that elevated CRP is a general indicator of inflammation - it cannot pinpoint where the inflammation is. That is why your doctor needs to talk to you about your medical history and perform a physical exam along with this test so he or she can interpret all of the evidence.

 

Because CRP levels can easily be monitored through a simple blood test, ask your doctor if you should have this test. Recent studies of drugs show that the cholesterol-lowering medications called statins may also lower and high levels of CRP.

 

Normal CRP values vary from lab to lab. Generally, there is no CRP detectable in the blood. So, your doctor may recommend you have a highly sensitive test called hs-CRP. According to the American Heart Association, you are at low risk of developing cardiovascular disease if your hs-CRP level is lower than 1.0 milligram/liter (mg/L). You are at average risk of developing cardiovascular disease if your levels are between 1.0 and 3.0 mg/L. You are at high risk for cardiovascular disease if your hs-CRP level is higher than 3.0 mg/L

Doctors still have a lot to learn about CRP, and there is a great deal of variability with CRP tests, so be sure to talk with your doctor before having a test and ask questions about what the results might mean for you.

 

Silent inflammation is an important factor in the development of sarcopenia. To measure the degree of inflammation, physicians can determine the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. CRP is one of the acute phase proteins that increase during the systemic inflammation that often accompanies insulin resistance. Most of the research on CRP has focused on its role in predicting heart attack. The higher the CRP level, the higher the risk of developing heart attack. The same is true for sarcopenia: the higher the CRP level, the greater the acceleration in the loss of muscle mass. Elevated CRP levels are also associated with a significantly higher risk for the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein produced by the liver in response to infection, inflammation, or tissue injury anywhere in the body. For years, doctors have measured blood CRP levels to monitor diseases such as pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. Mounting evidence that inflammation is an integral part of atherosclerosis (the narrowing of arteries by fatty plaque) led researchers to develop a new, more sensitive test to measure CRP, called the high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) or cardiac CRP (cCRP) test, which measures blood vessel inflammation.