Inflammation
hs-CRP / Albumin Ratio
What This Marker Tells Us
Compares inflammatory signaling to nutritional status and antioxidant capacity, revealing both inflammatory burden and the body's ability to respond to it.
Why It Matters
Captures the balance between inflammation driving disease and nutritional reserves defending against it. hs-CRP indicates systemic inflammation linked to cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity, and chronic illness. Albumin reflects nutritional status, liver function, and antioxidant capacity. High ratios indicate inflammation overwhelming protective capacity. The ratio predicts mortality, cardiovascular events, and frailty better than either marker alone.
How to Interpret Your Trends
Low ratios indicate minimal inflammation with robust nutritional status and antioxidant defenses. Typical ratios suggest balanced inflammatory response with adequate nutritional support. High ratios signal inflammation exceeding protective capacity from either excessive inflammation, depleted albumin, or both. This imbalance accelerates tissue damage, impairs healing, and increases disease risk across all systems.
What Influences This Marker
Chronic inflammation from obesity, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune disease, infection, or poor diet elevates CRP. Inadequate protein intake, liver disease, kidney losses, or chronic inflammation lower albumin. Poor sleep, chronic stress, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle worsen the ratio. Anti-inflammatory diet patterns, adequate protein, exercise, stress management, and treating underlying inflammation normalize it.
How Your Team Uses It
Your team uses this ratio to assess inflammatory burden relative to defensive capacity, guiding intervention intensity. High ratios from elevated CRP prioritize anti-inflammatory interventions. High ratios from low albumin emphasize protein optimization and addressing underlying causes of albumin loss. It integrates inflammatory and nutritional status in one actionable metric.
Related Signals We Also Review
hs-CRP, albumin, total protein, liver function, kidney function, inflammatory markers, and nutritional indicators complete the inflammation and nutritional capacity assessment.