Introducing the wide range C-reactive protein (wr-CRP) into clinical use for the detection of microinflammation.

BACKGROUND

The determination of low grade inflammation in apparently healthy individuals (microinflammation) has prognostic significance in terms of future vascular events and accelerated atherothrombotic disease.

METHODS

We compared the Bayer wide range (wr)-C-reactive protein (CRP) immunoturbidometric assay on the ADVIA 1650 system to the Dade Behring high sensitivity (hs)-CRP on the BNII Nephelometer in 1446 apparently healthy individuals having a relatively low (<10 mg/l) concentration. The correlation between the 2 assays was also analyzed in relation to other commonly used microinflammatory biomarkers.

RESULTS

A significant (p<0.0005) correlation was noted between the hs-CRP and the wr-CRP for the entire cohort (r=0.99) as well as for both women (r=0.99 n=483) and men (r=0.99 n=963). The mean difference between the measures (hs-CRP minus wr-CRP) was -0.039 (SD 0.317). The Deming regression results for the entire cohort showed a slope of 1.112+/-0.004 and an intercept of -0.263+/-0.01.

CONCLUSIONS

The Bayer wr-CRP assay performed presents a reasonable alternative to the Behring Dade hs-CRP assay. The advantages of the wr-CRP assay are its online and real time availability as well as lower costs.