To lower your risk of heart attacks and strokes, make sure you get this test
If you are want to figure out your risk of heart disease or stroke, you need to know several numbers such as your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose. However there is another test which may be as important or even more vital. It’s called your hs-crp (high sensitivity C-reactive protein) and it is a way to measure the inflammation in your cardiovascular system.
We’ve known for years that the cholesterol lowering medications called statins (Zocor, Lipitor, Crestor, Pravachol, etc) reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. We used to think that it was only because of their cholesterol lowering effect. Recently however, there has been much discussion about the fact that they also reduce your hs-crp levels.
So now the controversial question is: Is your hs-crp or cholesterol level a more important indicator of your cardiovascular risk? According to data (from the Jupiter study) presented at an American Heart Association meeting, Crestor (one of the statins) lowered cardiac risk even in those patients who already had normal cholesterol levels prior to being started on Crestor. Heart attack risk was still reduced by 52% while stroke risk was cut by 48%.
If your hs-CRP is greater than 3, you are considered at high risk for heart disease and if your level is less than 1 you are consider at low risk (1-3 is considered average risk). The average hs-CRP was 4 for test subjects in this study and was reduced by an average of 37% by Crestor. According to these results, we may soon be advising statins for high hs-crp levels. However - we do need more independent studies.
For now, make sure that you get your blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and hs-crp checked at least once a year and discuss the results with your doctor. Eat right, exercise, don’t smoke and keep your weight under control to keep these values in a healthy range. If a healthy lifestyle does not reduce your numbers, talk to your doctor about what medications you might need.