Familial Hypercholesterolemia: Evaluating Crp/Albumin Ratio and Blood Count Parameters

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the CRP-to-albumin ratio (CAR) and complete blood count parameters in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Methods: A retrospective study included 101 patients (61 female) and 35 healthy controls (18 female) who visited our hospital from January 2015 to June 2018. Serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), albumin, and CRP were measured using the Hitachi 917 biochemistry analyzer. Complete blood count was performed with the Abbott CELL-DYN Ruby® hematology analyzer. Statistical analysis was conducted with SPSS 27. Results: The FH patients had significantly higher median values of TC (328 mg/dL), TG (218 mg/dL), LDL-C (269 mg/dL), CRP (5.6 mg/dL), WBC (8.3×10^3/uL), NEU (4.9×10^3/uL), PLT (286×10^3/uL), and CAR (0.128), compared to the healthy controls. Significant differences were found between the two groups in TC, TG, LDL-C, albumin, CRP, CAR, WBC, NEU, LYM, and PLT (p<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) for CAR was 0.715, indicating its potential to distinguish FH patients from healthy controls (95% Confidence Interval: 0.626-0.824). Conclusion: CAR is a valuable inflammatory marker for diagnosing and monitoring familial hypercholesterolemia, showing significant differences between FH patients and healthy controls.