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"New research shows a long-term benefit in screening people for CRP, a marker for inflammation, even if they have normal levels of bad cholesterol, because of increased long-term risk for heart attack, stroke and death. These findings, which will be published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), demonstrate that a very simple screening, age plus CRP, can identify individuals who may benefit from statin therapy. "This study builds on results from the landmark JUPITER trial, which showed that statins can prevent heart disease in people with normal LDL-c, or bad cholesterol, and an increased level of CRP," said Dr. Christie Ballantyne, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center and last author on the study. "We have demonstrated that the cardiovascular disease event rates persist over time, validating that the risks identified in the JUPITER trial persist for nearly seven year"

Clinical Implications of JUPITER (Justification for the Use of statins in Prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) in a U.S. Population Insights From the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) Study Yang EY et al. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2009; 54:2388-2395, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.10.006 Conclusions: ARIC participants with elevated hs-CRP and low LDL-C had a CVD event rate of 1.57% per year over 6.9 years, similar to the CVD event rate noted in the JUPITER study placebo group (1.36% per year over 1.9 years). The association of hs-CRP ≥2.0 mg/l with increased CVD risk and mortality regardless of LDL-C provides us a simple method of using age and hs-CRP level for identifying higher risk individuals. (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study; NCT00005131)