The relationship between serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and coronary heart disease in the elderly male patients

Objective To investigate the relationship between the serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels and coronary heart disease (CHD) and explore the interaction between hsCRP and traditional risk factors in the aged male patients.Methods Serum hsCRP was measured by ultra-sensitive immunoassay in 64 Chinese male subjects (≥60 years).hsCRP values and its relationship with CHD and other factors,such as age,BMI,HDL-C,etc,were analyzed.Results The serum level of hsCRP in aged patients with CHD[( 4.73 ±3.16) mg/L] was significantly higher than that in the aged controls[(1.67±1.93) mg/L] by means of rank sum test analysis.Univariate logistic regression showed that hsCRP concentration was an independent risk factor of CHD and the OR value was 7.4 for those whose hsCRP was equal to or higher than 1.5 mg/L.Subjects were assigned to 3 groups based on their hsCRP levels and the hsCRP level was equally classified into 3 grades.In an ordinal logistic regression,the OR value of developing more serious CHD was augmented by 3.9-folds for each advancement of hsCRP to one grade higher.hsCRP was significantly correlated to those factors,such as age,BMI,TC,HDL-C and the severity of CHD.However,only the severity of CHD was significantly correlated to hsCRP after correcting for age and BMI.Conclusions The aged CHD patients have more serious inflammatory reaction than the controls and hsCRP is a sensitive predictor for the severity of CHD in the elderly male patients.