C–Reactive Protein and Atrial Fibrillation in Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

• Published in: Clinical cardiology (Mahwah, N.J.) Vol. 32; no. 9; pp. E45 - E50
• Main Authors: Shimo, Dai, Shu, Zhang, Ying hua, Guo, Chu, Jianmin, Hua, Wei, Wang, Fang zheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.09.2009
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Atrial Fibrillation - blood; Atrial Fibrillation - epidemiology; Atrial Fibrillation - etiology; Biomarkers - blood; Body Mass Index; C-Reactive Protein - metabolism; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated - blood; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated - complications; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated - epidemiology; Case-Control Studies; China - epidemiology; Clinical Investigation; Clinical Investigations; Female; Humans; Inflammation - blood; Inflammation - epidemiology; Inflammation - etiology; Inflammation Mediators - blood; Leukocyte Count; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Up-Regulation; China
• ISSN: 0160-9289; 1932-8737
• DOI: 10.1002/clc.20430

Background Previous studies have found elevated plasma C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Most of these studies included AF patients with various heart diseases, but few studies were designed to investigate CRP in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) patients with AF. Method and Results CRP levels in 242 IDCM patients with AF were compared with CRP levels in 280 control IDCM patients. Among control patients, 70 had atrial premature beats or atrial tachycardia and 210 had normal sinus rhythm. CRP was higher in the AF group than in the control group (median, 4.59 versus 2.81 mg/L; p < 0.001). The prevalence of AF in IDCM patients increased as plasma CRP levels increased, and the patients with the highest plasma CRP levels had the highest probability of suffering from AF. Outcome of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed body mass index, AF, and white blood cell count significantly correlated with the plasma CRP levels. Conclusion Our data demonstrated that the plasma CRP level in IDCM patients with AF was higher than in IDCM patients without AF, and an increase in plasma CRP levels was associated with an increased prevalence of AF in IDCM patients. Also, body mass index, AF, and white blood cell count correlate with plasma CRP levels in IDCM patients. These data suggest there is presence of inflammation in IDCM patients with AF. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.