High-sensitivity CRP at diagnosis and during follow-up in patients with Crohn's disease: Is it a marker for patient classification?

Aim: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a traditional non-specific marker of inflammation and Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with a strong CRP response. No clear cut-off values exist. Our aim was to investigate whether a classification based on the high-sensitivity (hs)-CRP value at diagnosis is useful for the prediction of disease phenotype and relapse rate in patients with CD. Methods: Two-hundred-sixty well-characterized, unrelated, consecutive CD patients (m/f: 120/140, duration: 7.0±6.1years) with a complete clinical follow-up were included. Medical records including disease phenotype according to Montreal cla…