Inflammation as a Cardiovascular Risk Factor - Report Example

Inflammation as a cardiovascular risk factor Introduction. When something that appears irritating or harmful affects any part of an individual’s body, there is often a biological respond initiated by the body in trying to remove the foreign object. These are signs and symptoms of an inflammation. An acute inflammation indicates that the body is working out some mechanism of trying to heal itself from such an injury. In this respect, an inflammation does not imply infection though an infection is what is known to cause an inflammation. More often than not, an infection occurs due to a virus, a fungus or a bacterium. On the contrary, an inflammation entails the body’s response to an infection. In essence, an inflammation is an attempt by the body to stage a self-protection against an infection with the aim of removing the harmful stimuli which include irritants, damaged cells or pathogens. In doing this, it initiates a healing process. It is worth noting that an Inflammation often takes place in a vasculature. There are various risk factors for an inflammation. These include diabetes, hypertension, as well as smoking that are activated by harmful effect of cholesterol and low-density-lipoproteins that work to initiate a chronic inflammatory reaction which results in a vulnerable plaque often prone to thrombosis and ruptures. Clinical, as well as epidemiological studies, have indicated a strong relationship between risk of the future cardiovascular events and markers of inflammation. Research show that enormous progress has been made towards preventing and treating the Cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of deaths in the Western World, and it is rated the second most common cause worldwide. By 2020, research indicates that about 40 percent of the deaths in the world were caused by Cardiovascular Disease. This figure is approximated to be more than two times the deaths that occur due to cancer. Risk factors for CVD were not well established until the Framingham Heart Study findings in 1960s. Understanding of these factors is essential for medics since, through such knowledge, the clinicians are able to prevent the cardiovascular mortality and morbidities. The heart American association in 1988 preceded over a conference in examining the strategies for identifying the patient’s high risk and their required primary prevention. In this conference, some of the strategies that were discussed include taking measurements of inflammation markers. In this respect, most of the markers are not applicable to the routine assessment of risks. This is so because they lack the standardization of measurement they like epidemiology findings consistency from the end points prospective studies, and they fail to have evidences that marker novel adds on the prediction risk for the already obtained risk factors. These markers are identified as risks that are emerging and could be utilized as a risk factor that is optional in adjusting the estimation of the absolute risk using the risk factors that are standard. From the period of this conference, different types of peer-reviewed scientific studies have been documented. These studies have argued out that there is a relation between the markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease. In efforts to expand the base of research, this paper explores the idea of inflammation being one of the risk factors for the cardiovascular disease. Body. In order to get to know the idea of inflammation, there is a need for one to consider various markers of inflammation as predictors that are potentially useful in bringing about the cardiovascular disease. These markers could fail to have any relevance in the clinical field unless they have some additional traits (Grundy, Bazzarre, Cleeman, 2000). The first trait of the markers is the independence in the establishment of risk factors. The second trait is the chance of standardizing the assay and controlling the measurement variability. The third trait is the CVD clinical association end points in a clinical trial and observational studies. The fourth trait is the potential of bettering the general prediction over the risk factor that is traditional. The fifth trait is the ability to generalize various population group results. The last trait involves the assay cost acceptance. The utility of markers could also be influenced by its relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD). The listed traits could be analysed in the markers of inflammation that are known as risk factors for CVD. This is highlighted in table 1. Table 1: Markers of inflammation considered as CVD risk factors. Adhesion molecules Cytokines Acute-phase reactants     Fibrinogen     SAA     CRP WBC count Other (eg, erythrocyte sedimentation rate) In this respect, there are many traits on the CVD end points and inflammatory markers relationship that should be considered. The first trait is to find out whether the assayed substance is a risk factor that performs the role of measuring the casual pathway step that results into atherosclerosis and any illness that may be processed. The second trait is to find out whether the markers of inflammation may relate in different ways in preventing atherosclerotic disease as opposed to the cerebral, coronary, or arterial beds peripheral syndromes that are chronic. The third trait is to establish the reasons why potential of the markers in predicting CVD end points may be different for a given time. The fourth trait would be whether the markers measurements show out therapy efficiency or rather the prognosis that would be changing. The last trait would be the utility of the test effective cost. In this case, it would be prudent to find out whether the cost increment of the test could be justified through various cost reduction or outcome improvement. The diagram 1 indicates the models that are alternative for the function of inflammation markers in CVD. Diagram 1. Test for the assessment of inflammation. There are different types of studies that have identified the association of CVD and inflammation through taking various measurements of various analytes (Barratt, Irwig, Glasziou, et al, 2007). A few of this assays could be employed in a medical setting. After considering the analyte stability, the assay commercially availability, the assay standardization to give out room for the results comparison, and the assay precision would also be considered. Table 2 shows out the recent inflammation markers. Table 2 TABLE 2. Assays of Inflammatory Markers for Potential Clinical Analyte Stability Assay Availability World Health Organization Standards Available?† Interassay Precision Soluble adhesion molecules (eg, E-selectin, P-selectin, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1) Unstable (unless frozen) Limited No CV Read More