1. High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Increases the Risk of Carotid Plaque Instability in Male Dyslipidemic Patients
- Author
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Francesca Servadei, Marina Cardellini, Rita Bonfiglio, Manuela Montanaro, Roberto Bei, Viviana Casagrande, Arnaldo Ippoliti, Alessandro Mauriello, Vittorio Manzari, Erica Giacobbi, Lucia Anemona, Rossella Menghini, Orazio Schillaci, Eugenio Martelli, Nicoletta Urbano, Massimo Federici, Manuel Scimeca, and Elena Bonanno
- Subjects
cardiovascular risk factors ,Medicine (General) ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Plaque instability ,carotid plaque ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Clinical Biochemistry ,Settore MED/08 ,Carotid endarterectomy ,Disease ,dyslipidemic patients ,Settore MED/04 ,Asymptomatic ,Article ,R5-920 ,Internal medicine ,Diabetes mellitus ,Medicine ,Kidney ,biology ,business.industry ,C-reactive protein ,medicine.disease ,hs-CRP ,Settore MED/46 ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Cardiology ,biology.protein ,medicine.symptom ,atherosclerosis ,business ,Lipoprotein - Abstract
Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate how the high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) values influence the risk of carotid plaque instability in association with other cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: One hundred and fifty-six carotid plaques from both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients requiring surgical carotid endarterectomy were retrospectively collected. According to the modified American Heart Association, atherosclerosis plaques have been histologically distinguished into unstable and stable. The following anamnestic and hematochemical data were also considered: age, gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking habit, therapy, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-C, kidney failure and hs-CRP. Results: The results of our study clearly show that high levels of hs-CRP significantly increase the carotid plaque instability in dyslipidemic patients. Specifically, a 67% increase of the risk of carotid plaque instability was observed in patients with high LDL-C. Therefore, the highest risk was observed in male dyslipidemic patients 2333 (95% CI 0.73–7.48) and in aged female patients 2713 (95% CI 0.14–53.27). Discussion: These data strongly suggest a biological relationship between the hs-CRP values and the alteration of lipidic metabolism mostly in male patients affected by carotid atherosclerosis. The measurement of hs-CRP might be useful as a potential screening tool in the prevention of atheroscletotic disease.
- Published
- 2021