Can Reducing Inflammation Keep Heart Failure at Bay?

By Paula Rasich

(CardioSmart) According to findings published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) tests, which measure levels of inflammation in the body, may predict heart failure years before it happens.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere looked at medical data from the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) study, a multicenter observational study of almost 7,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 84 without heart disease. Following the group for four years, researchers found that people with higher than normal blood levels of IL-6 and CRP had a 40% to 50% greater risk of heart failure.

“These numbers are significant because they go above and beyond traditional risk factors such as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure,” says study co-author David Bluemke, MD, PhD, professor of radiology and medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. In addition, of the five risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome, excess abdominal fat, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels appeared most significant, increasing risk of heart failure two-fold compared to low HDL cholesterol and elevated triglycerides.

It’s known that overweight people have a much higher risk of heart disease than normal. But in this study markers of bodily inflammation were more powerful predictors of heart failure than obesity alone. “What results like this and other papers indicate is that abdominal fat is associated with metabolic factors, and those factors have an adverse affect on your heart and its ability to continue pumping well,” says Bluemke. “This study helps put obesity in perspective. Obesity is important, but what may be more important than abdominal obesity are these newer risk factors like IL-6 and CRP.”

Short-term inflammation is your body’s way of healing itself from cuts and scrapes. When the job is done, the immune response switches itself off. However, natural chemicals released in the body as a result of chronic inflammation can harm body tissues. While causes vary, low-grade infections, high-fat diets, inherited susceptibility, and even your own fat cells may explain this ongoing inflammatory response. “If you have this inflammation going on in your vessels and your heart, the idea is that it will lead to heart complications later,” says Bluemke. New tests related to these risk factors will be very useful in screening people for complications of heart failure, adds Bluemke.

SOURCES:

Bahrami H et al. Novel Metabolic Risk Factors for Incident Heart Failure and Their Relationship with Obesity. Journal of the American College of Cardiology May 6, 2008.

David A. Bluemke, MD, PhD, MsB, Professor of Radiology and Medicine, Clinical Director of MRI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.