Association between Serum Levels Of Hs-CRP and LDL-C with Degree of Coronary Artery Stenosis in Patients with Stable Angina Pectoris

Over the past decade, several studies have revealed the role of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP), an acute inflammatory marker, as a prognostic factor in the setting of myocardial infarction, predicting future cardiac outcome of patients suffering from an acute coronary event. This study compares hs-CRP and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in predicting degree of coronary stenosis in patients with chronic stable angina. One hundred and five patients with chronic stable angina undergoing angiography were evaluated regarding known cardiovascular risk factors including age, sex, smoking habit, exercise, parental history of premature CAD, history of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension, total-cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and triglyceride. hs-CRP was measured by nephlometery and degree of coronary involvement was quantified by using an angiographic scoring scale. Results showed that hs-CRP was not correlated with angiographic score. When all traditional risk factors were entered as independent variables, age, sex, and history of hyperlipidemia were significant predictors of degree of coronary stenosis, and neither hs-CRP nor LDL-C were statistically significant. It was shown that hs- CRP was only related to sex and HDL-C. We conclude that larger studies with better set points for hs-CRP should be conducted, but our study indicates that traditional CAD risk factors including age, sex and history of hyperlipidemia still predict degree of coronary artery stenosis better than hs-CRP and hs-CRP measurement doesn''t add any information in this regard. Association of low HDL and hs-CRP may warrant further studies, too.