Background: Both high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and spiral computed tomography coronary artery calcium score (CCS) are valid markers of cardiovascular risk. It is unknown whether hs-CRP is a marker of atherosclerotic burden or whether it reflects a process leading to acute coronary events.
Methods and results: We studied the relation between hs-CRP and CCS in 143 patients that were candidates for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In our cross-sectional study, we found no significant association between hs-CRP and CCS in bivariate (p = 0.162) and multivariate (p = 0.062) analysis, but in patients who did not use statins this association was positive and significant in bivariate analysis (p = 0.001), and in multivariate analysis this association was negative and significant (p = 0.008).
Conclusions: High-sensitivity CRP was not correlated with CCS. The relation between CRP and clinical events might not be related to atherosclerotic burden. Measures of inflammation, such as hs-CRP, and indices of atherosclerosis, such as CCS, are likely to provide distinct information regarding cardiovascular risk.