Clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with atherothrombotic risk factors presenting with low concentrations of highly sensitive C-reactive protein

Aims: To clarify whether individuals with low concentrations of highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) are free of atherothrombotic risk factors or low-grade inflammation. Methods and results: This cross-sectional study included 1266 individuals with risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, smoking, obesity). Eighty percent of women and the same percentage of men with a low concentration (0.8 ± 0.4 mg/l) of hs-CRP had at least one atherothrombotic risk factor. About one-fourth of the females and a one-third of the males with a low concentration of hs-CRP had at least one laboratory marker of chronic inflammation (erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), white blood cell count (WBCC) or fibrinogen concentration) in the upper 75th percentile. Conclusion: Individuals presenting with low concentrations of hs-CRP are not necessarily free of atherothrombotic risk factors. One-fourth of the females and a third of the males in this group presented laboratory evidence of a low-grade inflammation as detected by increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, white blood cell count or fibrinogen concentration.