Objective To investigate whether C-reactive protein (CRP) is a biomarker of malignant ventricular arrhythmias (MVA) occurring in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients with Global Registry of Acute Coronary events (GRACE) scores 1 (34.1% vs. 24.2%, P < 0.001), an increased surgical revascularization rate (34.1% vs. 9.7%, P < 0.001), and increased mortality (16.5% vs. 5.8%, P < 0.001). Serum hs-CRP levels were higher (P = 0.003) in NSTEMI patients with MVA, and this increase appeared unrelated to other clinical parameters. The C-statistic to discriminate MVA was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.74–0.89). Using receiver operating characteristics analysis, we optimized a cutoff point of 16 mL/L, and the sensitivity and specificity were 95% and 61%, respectively;the positive predictive value was 20% and the negative predictive value was 99%. Conclusions An hs-CRP assay is a potential MVA biomarker in low-risk NSTEMI patients with GRACE scores < 140. If validated in prospective studies, hs-CRP may offer a low-cost supplementary strategy for risk stratification for NSTEMI patients.
展开▼
