The role of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome at Erbil cardiac center

Background and objective: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the predominant cardiovascular disease cause of death. One of the newer criteria for assessing acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is serum high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), which has demonstrated predictive value for coronary artery conditions independently of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate and assess the correlation between highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and the severity of acute coronary syndrome subtypes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 180 patients diagnosed with ACS at the Surgical Specialty Hospital-Cardiac Center in Erbil, Iraq. Subjects were classified into three groups according to the types of ACS: Group I (STEMI patients-83 individuals), Group II (NSTEMI patients-74 individuals), and Group III (UA patients-23 individuals). Parameters of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), cardiac biomarkers, and lipid profile were evaluated for all patients. Results: The study population consisted of 74.4% males and 25.6% females, aged 30 to 90 years, with a mean age of 58.66±12.03 years. Among all patients, 66.1% had hyperlipidemia, 58.3% had hypertension, 40% had diabetes, and 67.2% were smokers. Patients with myocardial infarction (STEMI and NSTEMI) had significantly higher levels of hs CRP (P = 0.026), troponin T hs (P <0.001), and CK-MB (P = 0.044) compared to UA patients. There was also found a positive significant correlation between serum hs-CRP with total cholesterol, LDL-C, and troponin T hs among ACS patients with statistically significant (r=0.171, P = 0.022), (r=0.202, P = 0.007), and (r=0.229, P = 0.002), respectively.