Background Atherosclerosis is accompanied by a low grade inflammatory response.
Hypothesis To use erythrocyte aggregability as a biomarker to exclude the presence of low grade inflammatory response in apparently healthy individuals.
Methods The adhesiveness/aggregation of red blood cells was quantitated by using a simple slide test and image analysis.
Results We included 121 apparently healthy individuals and found a significant correlation between the degree of erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation and either the concentration of high sensitive CRP (r = 0.6, P < 0.001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.5, P < 0.0001) or fibrinogen (r = 0.5, P < 0.0001). By using certain cutoff points for the erythrocyte adhesiveness/aggregation test we could define individuals with a very low grade inflammatory response.
Conclusions By using this inexpensive and rapid assessment, we could clearly discriminate between individuals with a very low inflammatory response and those with a more intense one. This biomarker should be further evaluated as a possible screening test for use in large populations of apparently healthy individuals in whom the detection of low grade inflammation might contribute to guiding appropriate lifestyle modifications and therapeutic interventions.
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