Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world. Inflammation is a systemic body response aimed to decrease the toxicity of harmful agents and repair damaged tissue. Significantly, production of pro-oxidant is increased at sites of inflammation, suggesting that focal inflammation significantly contributes to the initiation of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) oxidation at early stages of plaque formation. OxLDL thought to promote atherosclerosis through involved inflammatory and immunologic mechanisms that lead to lipid dysregulation and foam cell formation.

Aims and Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the role of inflammation in the progression of CVD using OxLDL as a marker.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in at MES Medical College Hospital, Kerala, written informed consent was obtained from all the volunteers recruited for this study. Persons having dyslipidemia were included as a test population, age, and sex-matched healthy subjects who attended the medical camp were included as a control population.

Results: A Pearson product - moment correlation was run to determine the relationship between OxLDL and high sensitive C-reactive protein values. There was a strong, positive correlation between the two, which was statistically significant. The present study shows that circulating OxLDL is a sensitive marker of CAD that is correlated with other risk factors of CAD, further suggests that OxLDL may indeed play a causative role in coronary atherosclerosis.

Conclusion: Markers of oxidative stress, such as OxLDL particles, are under investigation as possible biomarkers of CVD risk.

Key words: Cardiovascular Disease; Inflammation; Oxidative Stress; Oxidised Low-density Lipoprotein; High Sensitive C reactive Protein