A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LEVEL OF HIGH SENSITIVE C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT HYPERTENSION

Abstract

Background: High sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an available measured serum marker for detecting blood vessel inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. It has been demonstrated that these two mechanisms have a pivotal role in the pathogenesis and progression of hypertension. We conjecture and confirm in this study that the level of hs-CRP is higher in hypertensive patients.<br />Methods: We enrolled 77 hypertensive patients with the following distribution in the case group (male: 27.7%, female: 72.3%, mean age: 58.1 years, mean systolic blood pressure: 15.4 mm Hg, mean diastolic blood pressure: 90.4 mm Hg) and 77 matched normotensives, in the control group. Patients with heart failure, renal failure (cr>2mg/dl,) diabetes mellitus, infective disorder, severe systemic disorder and malignancies were excluded. Blood pressure was measured using the same digital Richter sphygmomanometer (ceo124 Ri-fit.) The hs-CRP was measured using CRP HS ELISA (enzyme immunoassay for quantitative determination of CRP in human serum). The normal range was 0.068–8.2 mg/l. Finally, the data were analyzed using SSPS-10 software.<br />Results: The mean levels of hs-CRP in the case and control groups were 4.29 and 2.43 respectively (p value<0.001).<br />Conclusion: Our study showed that the level of hs-CRP was elevated in the hypertensive patients, which reflected the role of the inflammatory process in the pathogenesis of hypertension.