Abstract
BACKGROUND: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) is an inflammatory marker that predicts coronary heart disease (CHD) and, in recent studies, incident heart failure (HF). Whether the association of inflammation with incident HF is explained by worse baseline left ventricular dysfunction or by underlying CHD is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Serum CRP was measured in a cohort of 985 outpatients with established CHD from the Heart and Soul Study. During 3 years of follow-up, 15% of the participants with elevated CRP levels (>3 mg/L) were hospitalised for HF, compared with 7% of those with CRP