PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Pellizzaro, Ann M.
AU  - Heuertz, Rita M.
TI  - C-Reactive Protein Levels Are Elevated in Asthma and Asthma-like Conditions
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.23.4.223
DP  - 2010 Oct 01
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
PG  - 223--227
VI  - 23
IP  - 4
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/23/4/223.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/23/4/223.full
SO  - Clin Lab Sci2010 Oct 01; 23
AB  - OBJECTIVE: Asthma is a chronic disease involving airway hyperresponsiveness. It was proposed that asthma/chronic shortness of breath elicit chronic systemic inflammation even in the absence of episodic events.DESIGN: Volunteers completed questionnaires relevant to asthma and/or dyspnea and consented to C-reactive protein (CRP) quantitation. Subject groups were: control (no reported dyspnea) and asthma/shortness of breath [dyspnea] group.SETTING: Studies were performed in the Saint Louis metropolitan area.PARTICIPANTS: Participants consisted of volunteers aged 18-57. Inclusion criteria were good health, not pregnant, weight >110 pounds and absence of anti-inflammatory medicine use.RESULTS: Serum CRP ranged from undetectable to 22,013 ng/mL. Mean results for asthmatic/dyspnea (n=22) and control (n=27) groups were 4,203±1,323 ng/mL and 1,741±467 ng/mL (p<0.05) respectively.CONCLUSION: Individuals with asthma/asthma-like symptoms have chronic low levels of systemic inflammation despite the absence of episodic pulmonary events. Understanding chronic systemic inflammation relevant to asthma/asthma-like conditions may lead to design of targeted therapeutics.ABBREVIATIONS: hsCRP = high sensitivity C-reactive protein