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.