rss
Thorax 2005;60:451-454 doi:10.1136/thx.2004.035774
  • Asthma

C reactive protein levels are increased in non-allergic but not allergic asthma: a multicentre epidemiological study

  1. I S Ólafsdottir1,
  2. T Gislason1,
  3. B Thjodleifsson2,
  4. Í Olafsson3,
  5. D Gislason1,
  6. R Jögi4,
  7. C Janson5
  1. 1Department of Allergy, Respiratory Medicine and Sleep, Landspitali University Hospital, 108 Reykjavik, Iceland
  2. 2Department of Gastroenterology, Landspitali University Hospital, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
  3. 3Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Landspitali University Hospital, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland
  4. 4Lung Clinic, Tartu University Clinics, Estonia
  5. 5Department of Medical Sciences: Respiratory Medince and Allergology, Uppsala University, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to:
    Professor T Gislason
    Department of Allergy, Respiratory Medicine and Sleep, Landspitali University Hospital, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland; thorariglandspitali.is
  • Received 19 October 2004
  • Accepted 10 February 2005

Abstract

Background: High sensitivity C reactive protein (HsCRP) is an inflammatory marker known to be related to smoking, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. A study was undertaken to determine whether HsCRP is related to respiratory symptoms, asthma, atopy, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in population samples from three countries.

Methods: HsCRP was measured in 1289 subjects from three centres in ECRHS II: Reykjavik, Uppsala and Tartu. The HsCRP values ranged from <0.01 mg/l to 70.0 mg/l and were divided into four equal groups (≤0.45, 0.46–0.96, 0.97–2.21, and >2.21 mg/l).

Results: HsCRP increased with increasing body mass index (r = 0.41; p<0.0001) and was higher in smokers than in never smokers (p = 0.02). A significant relationship was found between increased HsCRP levels and respiratory symptoms such as wheeze, attacks of breathlessness after effort, and nocturnal cough (p<0.0001). The crude odds ratio (95% CI) for the probability of non-allergic asthma was 3.57 (1.83 to 6.96) for subjects in the 4th quartile compared with the 1st quartile of HsCRP. This association remained significant after adjusting for study centre, age, sex, body weight, and smoking history (OR 2.19 (95% CI 1.04 to 4.63)). No significant relationship was observed between HsCRP and allergic asthma or bronchial responsiveness.

Conclusions: Raised levels of HsCRP are significantly associated with respiratory symptoms and non-allergic asthma but not with allergic asthma.

Footnotes

  • The study was supported financially by the Icelandic Research Council, the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, the Vårdal Foundation for Health Care Science and Allergy Research, the Swedish Association Against Asthma and Allergy, and the Estonian Science Foundation grant no 4350.

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF

Services

  1. Email this link to a friend
  2. Alert me when this article is cited
  3. Alert me if a correction is posted
  4. Article Usage Statistics
  5. Similar articles in this journal
  6. Similar articles in Web of Science
  7. Similar articles in PubMed
  8. Add article to my folders
  9. Download to citation manager
  10. Request permissions

Social bookmarking

Register for free content


Free sample
 This recent issue is free to all users to allow everyone the opportunity to see the full scope and typical content of Thorax.
View free sample issue >>

Free archive
The full back archive is now available for Thorax. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006, back to volume 1 issue 1.
Register to access the free archive >>

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.