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Analytic Issues for Clinical Use of C-Reactive Protein

  • Chapter
Cardiovascular Biomarkers

Part of the book series: Contemporary Cardiology ((CONCARD))

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Abstract

The serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) has historically been used to detect active infection and inflammation. Recent evidence has demonstrated that slight increases in CRP concentration, within the normal range, can predict future vascular events, thus reflecting the inflammatory component of atherosclerosis. It was necessary to develop new high-sensitivity methods for this clinical application, and to establish cut points for risk assessment of cardiovascular risk. To avoid misclassification of individuals into inappropriate categories of risk, clinicians and investigators must have an understanding of preanalytic and analytic sources of errors in CRP measurement. This chapter addresses issues that contribute to the reliability of CRP evaluation such as physiological variability, appropriate sample handling, and method standardizations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

    Nader Rifai PhD (Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac Chair in Laboratory Medicine, Director of Clinical Chemistry, and Professor of Pathology)

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

    Nader Rifai PhD (Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac Chair in Laboratory Medicine, Director of Clinical Chemistry, and Professor of Pathology)

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  1. Nader Rifai PhD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

    David A. Morrow MD, MPH

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© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Rifai, N. (2006). Analytic Issues for Clinical Use of C-Reactive Protein. In: Morrow, D.A. (eds) Cardiovascular Biomarkers. Contemporary Cardiology. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-051-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-051-5_15

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-526-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-051-5

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