There is an importance of inflammation as a contributor to heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. In the United States, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health report that blood levels of C-reactive protein, a molecular marker of inflammation, rank with cholesterol levels as indicators of future coronary heart disease.
And in England, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine report that an ordinary infection — such as the flu — may raise the risk of heart attack or stroke over the next few days because of an inflammatory effect on blood vessels.
Both studies appear in the Dec. 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Inflammation is the process by which the body responds to injury or infection. Laboratory evidence and results from clinical and population studies suggest that inflammation is important in atherosclerosis, the process by which fatty deposits build up in the lining of arteries, according to the American Heart Association.
The British study was undertaken because inflammation is known to play a long-term role in cardiovascular disease, said study author Liam Smeeth, a senior lecturer in epidemiology.
The Harvard report used data from two studies that have been following more than 120,000 health professionals, male and female, for many years. They underwent a large number of blood tests, including markers of inflammation, at the start of the study. The researchers looked at those levels in the 239 women and 265 men who had heart attacks or died of heart disease over the next six to eight years.
A high level of C-reactive protein — more than 3 milligrams per liter of blood — increased the risk of such an event by nearly 70 percent, compared to a reading lower than 1 milligram per liter, after adjusting for the presence of two other risk factors, diabetes and high blood pressure, the researchers found.