Inflammatory processes may be at work in heart disease

Plasma concentrations of C reactive protein and other markers of inflammation have been correlated with future risk of coronary heart disease, but it is not known whether these associations are causal. Danesh et al (p 199) studied four such markers (C reactive protein, serum amyloid A protein, leucocyte count, and serum albumin) in a prospective study of middle aged British men who were monitored for coronary disease for 16 years after giving baseline samples. Baseline values of the four inflammatory factors were associated with one another as well as with future risk of coronary heart disease, but not with markers of chronic infective processes such as persistent infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae or Helicobacter pylori.

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Relevant Article

Low grade inflammation and coronary heart disease: prospective study and updated meta-analyses

John Danesh, Peter Whincup, Mary Walker, Lucy Lennon, Andrew Thomson, Paul Appleby, J Ruth Gallimore, and Mark B Pepys
BMJ 2000 321: 199-204. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]