Limited Benefit To CRP Screening

A CRP blood test for heart disease risk does not add much to the other information doctors use. A review of 52 previous studies found this result. The studies included 240,000 people. None of the people had cardiovascular disease. The test was helpful in less than 2% of people. A CRP test is a blood test. It measures inflammation in the body. Inflammation may lead to narrowing of blood vessels. This can increase a person’s risk for heart attack or stroke. People most likely to benefit from heart-disease screening are those at medium risk. But in that group, regular CRP tests prevented only 1 heart attack or stroke for every 400 to 500 people screened. The study was published October 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.