Can anyone tell me what this means please? High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein reading of 4.45 mg/l.

[Smartieaddict]

I recently went for a private health check through work, and have just had the results back. Apart from very slightly high cholesterol everything was within the normal range, apart from the above. I have tried googling, and managed to scare myself. So is there anyone with any medical knowledge who can tell me what this is likely to mean, and if I need to see my GP about it, thanks.

hs-CRP is used along with other factors to establish cardiovascular (CV)risk. CRP is an inflammatory marker, and research has shown that having a long term low level of inflammation can increase your risk of stroke/heart attack in the future. It is not used to calculate risk in isolation but alongside cholesterol, family history, BMI, smoking history, BP etc etc.

CRP is not a specific test, lots of things can raise it- if you have any inflammatory process going on (any infection, trauma- bruise or cuts, arthritis, etc) then it can be high.

Don't panic, it may be sensible to repeat the test in a month or so to see if it was a one off. It may be a good idea to speak to your GP surgery to see if they offer appointments with a health trainer or similar about reducing your CV risk factors.

this seems to have sensible advice

Thanks for that. I've had a look at the link and feel a bit better now. I don't have most of the other risk factors. My weight is at the top of healthy range, blood pressure is normal. I do exercise, although not a huge amount. Never smoked, and no family history of heart disease or stroke. My diet could be better though. I would like to know what has caused it though, maybe a trip to the GP will shed some light.