Correlation of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein with severity and spirometric values of asthma

Abstract

Background: Asthma is an important community problem that increased in incidence worldwide, with a considerable acute and chronic sequale and being an inflammatory process, following and interrupting this process is extremely important. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is proposed to be a good indicator for the degree of inflammation; we aimed to utilize hs-CRP as an inflammatory biomarker to assess the severity and stability of asthma. Patients and Methods: Forty-one asthmatics (19 males and 24 females) with a mean age of 41 ± 14 and 22 years and gender- and body mass index-matched controls were assessed by questionnaire, spirometry, and level of hs-CRP in Al-Sader Teaching Hospital in Al-Najaf at 2018. Results: The mean values of hs-CRP were significantly higher in asthma than the control group, and this was marked in asthmatics during acute exacerbation than those with stable clinical status, hs-CRP was recorded significantly higher in adult asthmatic patients as compared to adolescents and middle aged, smoking history and allergic history did not show any significant difference, and the elevation of hs-CRP was markedly more in acute exacerbation as compared to stable state; on the other hand, the level of hs-CRP was correlated significantly more with the drop in forced expiratory volume1 and peak expiratory flow rate, indicating the relation with the severity of the illness. Conclusions: Hs-CRP can be considered as a good biomarker for assessing the severity and stability of asthma.