Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
Inflammation is a serious risk for heart disease in women.
Sommer said, “There is a study that came out that found that women who had higher levels of a certain protein called CRP were at risk for heart disease and they might have been healthy, meaning no smoking, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, not even high cholesterol, but they were still at risk for heart attack or stroke because of hidden inflammation.”
CRP is like a smoke alarm for inflammation.
Sommer said, “I guess they tested women who really had no obvious risk factors, like, I said, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking or diabetes, but the doctors tested them for this CRP, and they showed that people that had elevated CRP, 77% were at higher risk of coronary artery disease, 39% were at higher risk for stroke, and 52% were at higher risk of having a major cardiovascular event in their lifetime.”
CRP is made by the liver when there’s inflammation.
Sommer said, “Inflammation can come from all different things. There are obvious things like a bad cold, pneumonia, the flu. Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Crohn’s, something in your body is chronically inflamed. If you have any of that, you’re most likely going to have a higher CRP level. For heart health, when they look at it, they’re going to look at lifestyle and metabolic factors. So of course, carrying extra belly weight, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking are all silent drivers of inflammation. So I think when we talked about high blood pressure and the damage that it could do to other organs when it’s uncontrolled, this is kind of like along the same thing, having that inflammation, even though you may not feel it, see it or know about it, it’s occurring and it could be causing damage. So even daily stress, poor sleep and a steady diet of processed foods can nudge that CRP up over time.”
There are advances in medicine right now that could help.
Sommer said, “Now researchers are rethinking how we’re going to assess women’s health. I saw an OB GYN speaking saying women are more complicated, and this isn’t a competition with men. We’re not trying to be different. It’s just as our as we age, our body goes through many, many, many different changes, and we have many different screening tests. So they’re now thinking of combining cholesterol, another blood marker called LPA and CRP, for a fuller picture of risk. That way women don’t slip through the cracks because their blood pressures or cholesterol look normal, because sometimes you can look really good on paper, but we can’t see what’s going on inside. So another piece of the puzzle along the lines of why women are more complicated, estrogen, the main female hormone that protects the heart by calming inflammation. So as women approach menopause and estrogen levels drop, the protection fades. So I think this was kind of, if I had to take a guess, what made them start testing the CRP level is because now they’re figuring if that protection fades and there’s inflammation, your CRP level is going to rise. So this is like uncovering this. This is new, so they’re going to pay more attention to this and come up with better screening tools for women.”
What can you do to fight inflammation?
Sommer said, “First of all, you need to start by knowing what your normal is. What is your blood pressure, what is your cholesterol, what is your blood sugar? And you can talk to your provider about adding the CRP test, if that makes sense to you. So lifestyle changes really matter. Obviously, we talk about this all the time, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, exercising, moving your body daily, managing stress and getting enough sleep can help lower inflammation, naturally. For some women, and this was in the study that statins don’t just lower cholesterol, they also reduce inflammation. So they did mention in the article that it’s hard if you have normal cholesterol numbers, your doctor can’t prescribe you a statin. That’s the medication that keeps your cholesterol within check. So if your numbers look good, your insurance company isn’t going to cover it. So I think that’s why they’re going to incorporate the CRP and come up with other ways if you are at risk, your CRP is high and you’re doing all the right things that they may recommend adding a statin in the future.”
Inflammation is much more than just sore joints and swollen ankles.
Sommer said, “It could quietly increase a woman’s risk for heart attack and stroke even when everything else looks fine. So don’t ignore the silent signals, talk to your provider about it, especially if you have a family history of heart disease, and even though you’re really healthy. Some people, no matter what they do, they have high cholesterol, and it’s just because it’s, it’s familial, your family had it, your mother, your father, and it goes back generations. So know your numbers, like I said, and talk about it with your health care provider.”
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