Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Got my labs back today. Last blood work I had done showed high C-reactive protein (in the 7.8 range). This recent test shows about the same level (7.5 ish) but I'm now within the reference range for "normal." Normal used to be 0-3.0; now it's 0-9.9.

Anyone notice this and or know why this might have occurred?

Should I be worried?

What can/should I do?

Note that I eat a pretty much zero carb diet. Most other numbers were good, with monocytes being slightly elevated (I had a sinus infection at the time of the blood draw), and iron and sodium were very slightly low (just outside the reference).

Your help is very much appreciated!

flag	asked Jul 21 2011 at 21:31 wjones3044 10k●19●56

just use the ratio to convert. Its the same for clinical management. – The Quilt Jul 22 2011 at 13:36

chirocaveman · Answer 1 · 2011-07-21 22:00:36Z UTC

The reference ranges are standards at whatever particular lab your work goes out to. Lab A could have an entirely different set of reference ranges than Lab B, although they should more or less correlate, considering what the values mean! The range of 0-3.0 is what the AHA recommends as of about 2003.

A study from around the same time suggested that hs-CRP could be as high as 8.6 in healthy men and 9.1 in healthy women. Your lab may have switched their range to correspond with these values. It is up to your doctor to determine if this level, in conjuncture with your other results, is of any significance. Since CRP is a non-specific marker of systemic inflammation, an infection could elevate this number. But again, your doc is the one to tell you what this level means for you.

Why did they change the reference range for C-reactive protein?

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