C-Reactive Protein and Cardiovascular Disease

Multiple studies now show hsCRP to be a powerful predictor of future cardiovascular events even when cholesterol levels are low, a crucial issue for clinicians and patients as half of all heart attacks and strokes occur among apparently healthy men and women without hyperlipidemia. In this new book, evidence gained over the past decade that has transitioned hsCRP from a research tool into broad clinical use is reviewed in detail, including overviews of both inflammation and hsCRP in primary prevention, acute ischemia, and the targeting of multiple therapeutic interventions. Also addressed are up-to-date findings evaluating environmental and genetic determinants of hsCRP, pharmacologic trials addressing the potential for CRP reduction, and issues related to the laboratory evaluation of hsCRP and its formal use in modern global prediction models designed to detect high risk for cardiovascular disease.

While targeted to physicians involved in primary care, general internal medicine, and cardiology who are committed to heart disease treatment and prevention, "C-Reactive Protein and Cardiovascular Disease" will also be of interest to those concerned with the diagnosis, prevention, and pathogenesis of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and heart failure, all of which are now understood to have important inflammatory components."

Paul M Ridker, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Director, Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Divisions of Cardiovascular Diseases and Preventive Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts

Dr. Ridker is the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, a translational research unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston which focuses on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases.

As a graduate of Brown University, the Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Ridker's primary research brings together classical tools of large-scale, population based epidemiology with emerging genetic and molecular techniques designed to improve our ability to predict and prevent thrombotic occlusion. Particular areas of interest involve molecular and genetic determinants of hemostasis, thrombosis, and inflammation with a focus on "predictive medicine", early disease diagnosis, and the underlying causes and prevention of acute coronary syndromes. Dr. Ridker's research efforts are supported by multiple RO1 research grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) as well a Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Dr. Ridker is also the Principal Investigator of PREVENT, an NHLBI-funded multi-center clinical trial of thrombosis prevention among individuals with and without genetic predispositions to hypercoagulability. Dr. Ridker additionally directs an NHLBI-funded institutional National Research Service Award (training grant) in cardiovascular epidemiology, and Co-Directs the Leducq Center for Cardiovascular Research at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ridker has been the recipient of both a Clinician Scientist Award (1992-1997) and an Established Investigator Award (1997-2002) from the American Heart Association. A frequent invited lecturer at national and international conferences, Dr. Ridker lists among his honors elected membership into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Epidemiological Society (AES), and the American Association of Physicians (AAP). Citing his pioneering work on inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP), and atherothrombosis, Time Magazine honored Dr. Ridker as one of America's Ten Best Researchers in Science and Medicine in 2001. In 2003, Dr. Ridker's work on inflammation and CRP lead to the first set of federal guidelines advocating CRP evaluation as a new method for cardiovascular disease detection. Also in 2003, Dr. Ridker was named as a Reynolds Investigator and as Co-Director of the Reynolds Center for Cardiovascular Research at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Ridker is the author of over 190 original reports, 90 reviews and book chapters, and 3 textbooks related to cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Ridker serves on the editorial board of several major journals and is a Consulting Editor for Circulation. Dr. Ridker is listed as a co-inventor on several patents filed by the Brigham and Women's Hospital that relate to the use of inflammatory biomarkers in cardiovascular disease.