C-reactive protein levels for cardiovascular disease screening: a review of accuracy, use, and guidelines

Richard M, Cunningham J
Record ID 32011001298
English
Authors' recommendations: The results from one meta-analysis and one systematic review evaluating the usefulness of CRP in the prediction of future CVD events revealed a consistent association of elevated CRP levels with incidence of cardiovascular events. However, questions remain regarding the usefulness of CRP values in establishing risk due to its low corresponding role in predicting CVD risk. The included studies did not provide rationale for the use of a CRP level of 2.0 mg/L for screening for cardiovascular disease. Guidelines currently do not recommend routine use of CRP for screening patients at risk of CVD. Rather, CRP screening is recommended for clarifying disease in patients with intermediate risk scores. However, it does not appear that measurement of CRP adds value beyond measurement of well-established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The lack of high quality evidence from RCTs and the remaining questions about the ability of CRP to assess risk of cardiovascular disease should be considered when deciding whether CRP should be used as a standard screening tool.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2009
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: Canada
MeSH Terms
  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Mass Screening
Contact
Organisation Name: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health
Contact Address: 600-865 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 5S8 Canada. Tel: +1 613 226 2553; Fax: +1 613 226 5392;
Contact Name: requests@cadth.ca
Contact Email: requests@cadth.ca
Copyright: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.