C-Reactive Protein Test

C reactive protein

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein that is created by the liver and is seen in the blood. CRP levels in the blood grows if there is an inflammation anywhere in the body and thus high levels of CRP is cause for alarm and can be evidence of burns, inflammation, trauma, infection, active inflammatory arthritis, some cancers and more recently CRP has been linked to atherosclerosis and heart disease.

The function of CRP is to connect to phosphocholine on microbes and it assists phagocytosis by macrophages which means that it helps with the elimination and assimilation of bacteria, dead cells and small mineral particles.

C-reactive protein is believed to play an important role as an early defense system against infections in the body. In situations of acute inflammation CRP levels go up as much as 50,000 times above normal, typically within 6 hours and peaks at 48 hours. The CRP level is a really precise indication of an inflammation because the only known thing to interfere with CRP production is liver failure.

Measuring CRP levels therefore is useful in seeing how a disease is progressing, and whether or not medications given for the disease are working. Measuring CRP requires taking and analyzing the patient’s blood; in normal results there is generally no CRP at all located in the blood

A high sensitivity test might be used to check your CRP level called an hs-CRP test. This test will pick up even trace levels of CRP which a regular blood test would not find. In healthy people CRP levels are less than 10 mg/L and raises slightly as one ages. Higher levels are found in women in late pregnancy, in women taking oral contraceptives and in situations of mild inflammation and viral infections. Your CRP amounts will tell whether you are low risk, high risk or average risk for developing heart disease.

In more recent times raised levels of CRP have been linked to diabetes, hypertension and as mentioned before, heart disease and strokes; high amounts of hs-CRP have consistently been used to forecast repeat coronary problems in patients. There are also studies which suggest that increased amounts of hs-CRP can be used to forecast recurrences of strokes and peripheral artery disease.

As increased CRP amounts may be influenced by an infection or inflammation, a single measurement is not enough to predict a person’s risk of heart problems. Therefore diagnosing heart problems is done by performing two separate CRP tests two weeks apart and using the average number of both readings to estimate a person’s probability of suffering heart disease.

In instances of raised CRP, it is useless to try and treat the elevated CRP in itself, the key is to treat the underlying condition that is causing the abnormal elevation and lessening the risk of heart problems. The most effective techniques for decreasing the risk of heart problems are regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, and giving up smoking if you are a smoker. In some cases medication may be the only answer.