CRP-Based Cardiovascular Risk Assessment: New Conventional CRP Assay Fit for Purpose?

BACKGROUND: Subclinical inflammation was shown to play a role in the context of cardiovascular disorder processes. American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines on cardiovascular risk assessment in specific clinical contexts recommend the use of C-reactive protein (CRP) measurement with high sensitive (hs)-CRP assays that meet the precision requirements for values <2 mg/L. Until now, only hs-CRP assays reached the required limit of quantification. However, new regular CRP assays allow measuring CRP down to 0.6 mg/L. METHODS: A multisite comparative study between hs-CRP and a new conventional CRP assay (Tina-quant) was performed to evaluate the possibility of using regular CRP assays for cardiovascular risk assessment. RESULTS: A satisfactory concordance was observed between regular CRP assays and the hs-CRP assay. Both assays met the analytical precision requirements at the different cutpoints tested (1.00, 2.00, and 3.00 mg/L). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that this new regular CRP assay can be used for cardiovascular risk assessment, which is expected to provide substantial operational and financial advantages when compared with hs-CRP assays.