Clinical significance of hypertension, diabetes and inflammation, as predictor of cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Despite the availability of effective primary and secondary therapies, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Use of traditional cardiovascular risk factors is imprecise and predicts less than one half of future cardiovascular events. Diabetes generally results in early death from CVD. Hypertension also increases the risk of CVD. Patients with hypertension and diabetes with accompanied dyslipidemia are soft targets of cardiovascular deaths. The growing appreciation of the role of inflammation in atherogenesis has focused attention on whether circulating levels of inflammatory biomarkers may help identify those at risk of future cardiovascular events. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) has been investigated extensively as a marker of inflammatory response that is useful in predicting the risk of CVD. The role of hsCRP and the combined effect of diabetes and hypertension in the prediction of risk of CVD is less defined. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the association of hsCRP, diabetes and hypertension in the prediction of risk of CVD. Hundred patients were recruited for the study, of which, fifty belongs to control and fifty were test group. For the entire study population hsCRP, sugar level, hypertension and lipid profiles were measured. Considerable variability was observed between control and test group. Among the patients with complications (diabetes and hypertension), there was a significant elevation of hsCRP and lipid profile than the control. It was found that the measurement of hsCRP in CVD patients with diabetes and hypertension may prove to be even a better marker of risk response.