Replies to post #80343 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

The point of disagreement within the scientific community isn't about CRP causation, but whether inflammation is a separate causation path potentially separately benefitted by statins. And CRP is a reliable proxy for that path.

Agreed. When viewed under this lens, the NYT article in #msg-39219495 is not one of Gina Kolata’s better efforts.

[croumagnon]

Re: CRP and heart disease...

This is very interesting and I have always argued with doctors about the fact that an elevated CRP does not necessarilly mean heart disease, only that an inflamation exists somewhere in the body. For instance people with neuropathy will generally have an elevated CRP even if their heart is fine...

You however bring up an intriguing point iwfal if I understand you correctly. Namely that a perpetual inflamation meassured by the CRP, even if generic in nature and unrelated to the heart, could eventually put stress on the heart and cause heart disease. If that is true, then reducing the CRP level could mitigate that problem perhaps...