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C-reactive protein levels among hypertensive patients attending University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Ituku-ozalla, Enugu State, Nigeria

The blood level of C-reactive protein (CRP) has been postulated to increase in hypertensive patients but has not been implicated as a risk factor for high blood pressure. This prompted this study to investigate the level of CRP of hypertensive patients at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, and Enugu state. Eighty-nine subjects of which 50 were hypertensive patients (test subjects) and 39 apparently healthy individuals (control subjects) volunteered in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to capture the bio-data and other vital information from the participants of which virtually all the test subjects were on anti-hypertensive drugs. Anthropometric measurements were taken, blood samples were collected and CRP was analyzed using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay method. Data were analyzed using the student's test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). There was no significant statistical difference (P>0.05) in CRP levels (µg/ml) in all the comparisons; that is between all male and female study populations (401-478 and 3.61-4.24), between tests and controls (3.62-3.85 and 4.06-526), between male tests and male controls (3.76-3.55 and 4.24-5.80), between female tests and female control (3.62 ±3.85 and 3.76-3.55) between male tests and female tests (3.50-414 and 381-4.531, and between male controls and female controls (4.24 ±5.80 and 3.81-4.55). It was also observed that there was no relationship between the duration of hypertension with the CRP levels in the test subjects. These results suggest that the C-reactive protein levels may be increased in hypertensive patients but may be decreased by antihypertensive therapies. More studies are needed and these findings warrant further evaluation in randomized trials. A longitudinal study to fully assess the effect of antihypertensive drugs on the level of C-reactive protein in hypertensive patients may also be of great essence.