Comparison of C-Reactive Protein and Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in the Prediction of First Cardiovascular Events

Because of its critical importance in atherogenesis, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is the focus of current guidelines for the determination of the risk of cardiovascular disease.1 However, atherothrombosis often occurs in the absence of hyperlipidemia, and recent consensus panels assembled by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have concluded that population-based data on other risk factors are urgently needed.2,3 Among the biologic markers considered by those panels, there was particular interest in C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that has been shown in several prospective, nested case–control studies to be . . .