Aim: Serum C-reactive protein (sCRP) has emerged as a proxy of cardiovascular (CV) disease. The aim of this study was to verify the relationships between sCRP and other proxies of CV morbidity, and to test its reliability in predicting mortality for CV events.
Methods: We analysed the relationships between sCRP and other factors (age, gender, co-morbidities, use of statins, haemoglobin, serum creatinine, albumin, uric acid and lipid levels) involved in CV outcomes, coupled with a 5-year survival study, by reviewing the charts of the patients admitted to our unit from 1 January to 31 December 2001. Thus we ascertained the survival of the patients at 31 December 2006. Exclusion criteria were: end-stage renal disease, recent surgical interventions, therapies with steroids/NSAIDs and more than one hospitalization within the study period.
Results: Seventeen patients of our series (n = 233; 47.4% males, 16.4% with diabetes) died from CV events. The multiple regression analysis showed that log sCRP was lower in males (p = 0.025) and directly predicted by log creatinine (p = 0.043) and uric acid (p = 0.029). Log sCRP was inversely related to total cholesterol (p = 0.001). In the Cox’s regression analysis, age was the sole predictor of the 5-year mortality for CV causes (hazard ratio 1.23; 95% CI 1.11, 1.36; p < 0.0001).
Conclusions: In our practice, sCRP values were lower in males and correlated directly with serum creatinine and uric acid. Moreover, sCRP did not predict the mortality for CV events, raising the doubt that its reliability depends on the clinical setting considered.