C Reactive Protein Test Uttarakhand

What is C Reactive Protein Test?

C-Reactive protein is a test that is used to monitor conditions that causes inflammation. It is also ordered along with other tests to help assess a person’s risk for developing heart disease.

Why take C Reactive Protein Test?

• Your doctor will order this test if you present with unexplained high fever accompanied with chills, rapid breathing and heart rate and nausea accompanied with vomiting.
• The doctor may also order this test if you are undergoing certain treatment and if the CRP levels go down during the treatment that means, the inflammation in your body is also going down.

Is this test for you?

Your doctor may order this test for you when you display signs of a serious bacterial infection or sepsis. It is also used to diagnose certain autoimmune conditions like lupus and may also be ordered if the doctor suspects that you may have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

More about C Reactive Protein Test

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein produced by the liver when there is a condition/infection that triggers inflammation. Inflammation is a natural process in the body or can also be called as a body’s way of fighting infection. During this fighting process, inflammation occurs and sometimes inflammation can cause damage to the cells and tissues in the body. Sometimes heart tissues can be damaged in the process. A high-sensitivity CRP is usually used along with other cardiac risk marker tests like the Lp-PLA2 test also called as the PLAC test. These cardiac marker tests give us insights if there is inflammation in the blood vessels that supply to the heart. The hs-CRP test accurately detects low concentrations of C-reactive protein to help assess a person’s risk for developing heart disease.

Reference Values

Reference range depends on age, gender and medical history. A normal reference range is listed below
Below are the risk groups as given in guidelines by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
• Low risk: less than 1.0 mg/L
• Average risk: 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L
• High risk: above 3.0 mg/L
The above risk profile is not used individually to gauge a person’s risk for developing heart diseases. Other risk factors that are used in conjunction are levels of cholesterol, LDL, Triglycerides etc. Lifestyle habits like smoking, use of tobacco, unhealthy diet and conditions like diabetes and hypertension are all risk factors

Interpretations

Relatively high levels of hs-CRP in otherwise healthy individuals have been noted as a predictive marker for an increased risk of a future heart attack, stroke, sudden cardiac death, and/or peripheral arterial disease, even when cholesterol levels are in the normal range.
The level of hs-CRP are directly proportional to an individual’s risk for developing heart disease, with high values indicating a higher risk and lower values carrying a lesser risk, proportionately.
Particularly, people having hs-CRP levels at the high end of normal range are 1.4 -1.5 times more prone to the risk of heart disease to those having hs-CRP at a lower end of normal. Thus, estimating the precise levels are more important.