Abstract
C-reactive protein (CRP), when measured by a highly sensitive method, is a measure of lowgrade, chronic inflammation and is an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). CRP also has the capacity to interact with other risk factors to increase the risk for T2D and CVD. Population distributions divided into tertiles provide the capacity to predict onset of T2D and associated CVD. Preanalytical as well as analytical sources of variation in high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) measurements need to be standardized in order for CRP results to be optimally useful. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association have issued guidelines for clinical usefulness of hsCRP measurements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken steps to standardize hsCRP assays by evaluating secondary reference materials to be used by manufacturers to calibrate their assays.
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