C-reactive protein increase in acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: Considering acute myocardial infarctions (AMI), data demonstrate that C-reactive protein (CRP) levels reflect the severity of myocardial damage and that high CRP level is associated with a worse outcome. This study evaluates the prognostic value of CRP and the determinants of its increase during AMI.
Methods and Results: A retrospective observational study of 126 patients with a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI); 101 patients had reperfusion therapy (93 thrombolysis, 8 PTCA). Peak CRP (median: 3.5 mg/dl) was achieved the third day. A correlation existed between this peak and age (r = 0.1838; p = 0.0408). Diabetic patients not requiring insulin showed peaks double those of other patients (10.4 versus 6.1 mg/dl; p = 0.0165). The peak was higher in anterior infarctions (anterior: 8.4, lateral: 6.9, inferior: 6.4, posterior: 3.9 mg/dl; p = 0.0206) and for those showing a Q-wave (7.5 versus 3.9 mg/dl; p = 0.0020). It was correlated with the CK (r = 0.246; p = 0.0188) and troponin Ic (r = 0.242; p = 0.0224) peaks among thrombolysed patients. There was an increasing relationship between the occurrence of cardiac failure and the magnitude of the CRP peak. An inverse linear relationship existed between the ejection fraction of the left ventricle and the CRP peak (r = -0.4187; p = 0.0000). CRP peak was lower with statins (3.8 versus 7.0 mg/dl; p = 0.0446). Fibrates were only associated with lower CRP levels at admission (0.6 versus 0.9 mg/dl; p = 0.0010).
Conclusions: CRP is an indicator of the severity of STEMI. It is also an indicator for the occurrence of complications during hospitalization. The effect of statins and fibrates on CRP levels in AMI should be studied further.