C-Reactive Protein for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in the Metabolic Syndrome
- Nathan D. Wong, PHD, MPH and
- Shaista Malik, MD, PHD, MPH
- Heart Disease Prevention Program, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California
- Address correspondence to Dr. Nathan D. Wong, Heart Disease Prevention Program, C240 Medical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697. E-mail: ndwong{at}uci.edu
Response to Kholeif et al.
We appreciate the comments of Dr. Kholeif (1) regarding the utility of C-reactive protein (CRP) measurement in stratifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk as it relates to our report of patients with the metabolic syndrome (2). While our data must be interpreted cautiously because they are of a cross-sectional nature, our findings are consistent with those of Ridker et al. (3) showing metabolic syndrome patients with elevated CRP levels to have a less optimistic prognosis than those with normal CRP levels.
We agree with Dr. Kholeif that a single CRP measurement, given its intraindividual …
