Is 68 A High C Reactive Protein Level?

Answer 1

The American Heart Association and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have defined risk groups as follows:

* Low risk: less than 1.0 mg/L

* Average risk: 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L

* High risk: above 3.0 mg/L

These values are only a part of the total evaluation process for cardiovascular diseases. Additional risk factors to be considered are elevated levels of cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides, and glucose. In addition, smoking, having high blood pressure (hypertension), and being diabetic also increase the risk level.

Measuring the CRP levels: http://heartdisease.about.com/od/cardiacriskfactors/a/MeasureCRP.htm

CRP is measured using a high sensitivity test (called the hs-CRP blood test). In general, the higher the hs-CRP level, the higher the risk. Levels of hs-CRP below 1 are considered low; levels of 1 - 3 are considered moderately elevated; levels greater than 3 are considered high. Levels greater than 10 are usually only seen with active, obvious inflammatory processes, such as severe infection, major trauma, or chronic inflammatory diseases - these ultra-high levels cannot be used to interpret cardiac risk. Because CRP levels can fluctuate over time, most experts now recommend measuring 2 CRP levels a few weeks apart, and averaging the two values.