DOES HIGH CRP LEVELS CAUSE HEART DISEASE?
The Jupiter study on statins has carved out a new class of people that could be helped by cholesterol drugs. They dont get them because their cholesterol levels are normal. The study cant say why the anti- cholesterol drug Crestor helped those in the study who had elevated CRP levels.
The 9000 people in the study who took Crestor had their CRP lowered by 32% and the bad LDL lowered by 50%. Heart attacks and strokes were 50% lower than in the placebo group. At least some of the benefit was due to the lowering of CRP levels. The manufacturer cant explain why.
Is CRP a heart risk indicator? CRP is a nonspecific, and it is up in several diseases. It is a marker for not being healthy. By focusing on this inflammation, they think they are catching people under the radar screen.
Were they really treating high CRP levels? The study people had normal cholesterols, but most were overweight, 15% were smokers and 40% had metabolic syndrome. All these factors are known to raise CRP levels. If you have normal cholesterol and some risk factors high blood pressure, or obesity, should you be treated to get your cholesterol even lower?
Does CRP levels actually cause disease? Did the great results occur because the drug lowered the CRP? Most doubt this because of a study of 50,000 Danes, who had their DNA studies. It showed such variations in the CRP gene that they concluded the gene doesnt cause heart disease nor does the protein. (NEJM Oct.30. 2008).

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