Fatal CVD Risk Increases with Inflammation

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: June 23, 2009 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

HOUSTON, June 23 -- In older patients at risk of vascular disease, biomarkers of inflammation can warn of an increased risk of fatal versus nonfatal clinical events, according to a multicenter European study.

Action Points

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• Explain to patients that levels of proteins associated with inflammation are associated with an increased risk of fatal versus nonfatal cardiovascular events.



• The findings were based on a retrospective review of data in an older population, not a prospective study.

In particular, elevated interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) had strong associations with fatal events, Naveed Sattar, MD, PhD, of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and colleagues reported online in PLoS Medicine.

The findings have implications for clinical management and for understanding the etiology of fatal cardiovascular disease, the authors concluded.

"Our key observation of a stronger link of inflammatory markers with fatal CVD compared with nonfatal CVD significantly extends suggestive (but inconclusive) observations from previous reports . . . of potentially stronger associations between inflammatory markers with CVD death," they said.