Background and Purpose
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a risk indicator for atherosclerosis.
However, the association between hs-CRP and early carotid atherosclerosis progression
is not well established. We undertook a prospective, community-based, observational
study to address this question.
Methods
Common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and hs-CRP values were measured
at baseline and after 2 years of follow-up in subjects ≥40 years of age who were participating
in the Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities Community study. Association between
hs-CRP values and IMT progression was determined before and after controlling for
vascular risk factors.
Results
IMT was measured in a total of 1918 subjects at baseline and 52.97% of those (1016
of 1918) had IMT progression after 2 years. No significant association between progression
of IMT over a 2-year period and average hs-CRP levels was found (multivariate-adjusted,
P for trend = .280). Both hs-CRP values measured at baseline (P = .836) and after 2 years of follow-up (P = .440) were not associated with IMT progression levels. Average hs-CRP values were
not related to IMT progression levels in a dose–response manner (P = .784). In a subgroup analysis stratified by age and sex, hs-CRP values were also
not significantly associated with IMT progression levels (P > .05).
Conclusion
Our results suggest that hs-CRP is not a predictor for the progression of early atherosclerotic
changes of the carotid arteries. The hs-CRP levels in early atherosclerosis might
be considered as risk markers rather than having a causal role.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 11, 2016
Accepted:
September 11,
2016
Received in revised form:
August 21,
2016
Received:
July 4,
2016
Footnotes
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81202279), National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2011BAI08B02).
Anxin Wang and Xiaoya Huang contributed equally to this work.
Identification
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2016.09.013
Copyright
© 2017 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
