I received this email from Bob Messerschmidt today. I met him at a local San Francisco startup incubator a number of years ago when he was just starting work on this. He’s an ex-Apple watch engineer who is focused on this new device to measure chronic inflammation at home (via ESR Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR): MedlinePlus Medical Test
I’m not so familiar with ESR and have always used CRP / HS-CRP.
What are people’s thoughts on this type of device and the measure? Useful or not so much?
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I’m delighted to announce the world’s first at-home device to measure chronic inflammation, the COR One™.
We learned from the original COR device that:
Measuring chronic inflammation at home was of the greatest interest.
Compared to our proprietary scoring mechanism, registered biomarkers that physicians and clinicians could comprehend were of significantly more interest.
Most modern illnesses, including arthritis, heart disease, mood disorders, and neurological diseases, are caused by chronic inflammation. In fact, it is now widely acknowledged as the most likely origin of all chronic illnesses.
In response, the COR One™ will be an FDA-registered medical device, allowing chronic inflammation to be measured at home using just one drop of blood.
Please visit https://corhealth.com to learn more and to get on the device waiting list (no obligation or deposit required). Demand will exceed capacity.
Love the concept. For me and many here the question is probably if is can differentiate levels of inflammation as the lower ends of the spectrum in a sensitive way.
If so sign me up. If not less /not at all interesting to me (and normal blood work will suffice on a 3-4 month cadence).
Can you ask him what sensitivity is has at low levels of inflammation?
Ie can we see if somehow how if low inflammation gets benefit at the level of changing diet or supplements on the margin from an already good basis?
I see that they claim that it does this better than hs-CRP, but can he elaborate on that / provide any data?
(Personally and I seen others on this forum complain that we keep just getting the lower end range on hs-CRP tests)
I have had ESR results as well as hsCRP where the lab minimum is 0.15mg/L and I am below that. I found the ESR results less precise and less useful. However, it may be that this machine is more precise and therefore useful. What I had with ESR was movements between 2mm and 5mm and nothing in between.
In the end, however, if you can get CRP below 0.15mg/L that is a good outcome. One of the labs I use (Medichecks) has reduced their minimum from 0.3 to 0.15 and I would expect Labs to compete in improving this issue.
Hi Neo, Bob from COR here. Big thanks to Brian for posting! I signed up so I can answer questions. ESR seems to have a good bit of “headroom.” The normal range for ESR is allowed to drift up with age. But in studies where only super-healthy super-fit people are enrolled, no age dependence is seen. So for example I am “allowed” as a 60+ male, to have an ESR of 30 but mine is 3! So I think a lot of people are going to be in this realm where they have room to improve.
Most of us here are interested in longevity (living in a physically healthy and active way as long as possible). Do you have any knowledge on what ESR level is associated with lowest all cause mortality?
Your device seems to be something that could help us measure and optimize this on a regular basis, as I think inflammation (and specifically lower levels of inflammation) have been identified in many papers I’ve read as a key biomarker of aging.
Thanks Brian, glad to be here. ESR is, as you indicate, is associated with all-cause mortality. The best study is probably the Reykjavik Study (2005) where the end point was out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in 8006 men and 9435 women, age 33 to 81, followed from 1987 to 1995. ESR was positively associated, with a hazard ratio of 1.26 and a P-value of 0.01. As for dose-response, that might be torturing the data a bit too much but lower ESR is clearly better.
Another one: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (2002) analyzed the relationship between ESR and mortality in a population-based sample of 1,292 individuals aged 65-88 years old. The study reported that higher ESR levels were associated with increased mortality risk, particularly in men. Still no dose response.
In terms of hs-CRP vs ESR, I’d start with the diagnostics side. My local lab said that doctors often order ESR in conjunction with hs-CRP, that it was better to have both to determine/manage underlying pathologies.
On the longevity side, I’ve found ESR to be just as effective as hs-CRP, but much cheaper. I used to measure both together weekly, for months but found no real reason to continue with hs-CRP.
I found that ESR strongly correlated with hs-CRP. But changes were more pronounced. For example when I had a health issue hs-CRP was 1.64 mg/L and ESR 11 mm, and the following week as it improved, hs-CRP was 1.42 mg/L and ESR 9 mm, and the following hs-CRP 1.39 mg/L and ESR 7 mm. Just easier to scan/read, the changes in ESR.
On the ultra healthy side, is where I see the difference. My local lab cuts hs-CRP off at 0.4 mg/L, and my reading for ESR at this range is 5 mm, opening the door for further improvement.
hs-CRP is better for knowing if you have in infection, as it reacts immediately whereas ESR has around a two day lag, so I like hs-CRP for knowing you have a cold/flu coming on. The cheapest I’ve saw ESR is around $20, which is around half the price of hs-CRP. I’m quite happy checking ESR weekly and checking hs-CRP (as a "sync) every quarter.
It would be very interesting to see the impact on inflammation by rapamycin, with a device like the Core One - it would be easy to measure inflammation just prior to dosing rapamycin, then at peak blood/sirolimus levels (e.g. 1 to 2 hours after dosing), then over the following days as the half-life ticks down.
RapAdmin, This sounds interesting. I have a question, but I’ll admit that I did not watch the video. I understand hs-CRP very well, but the measurement system of COR One, I do not. Do you know if there is a chart available that shows the relationship between hs-CRP values and the COR One measurement values? Thanks.
I don’t know of any such chart, but Bob mentions in the video that there is about a 70% overlap in measures from CRP and ESR, both are proteins formed by the kidney. ESR more slow reacting, CRP more quickly reacting (to situations/infections, etc. in your body).
The unit is $349. But as promised in the progress update email, you can get yours for $299. To do so, simply enter the following discount code:
GETMINE
On the checkout page (the page where you enter your payment information).
Your unit will be dispatched on the same day that your order is placed. I am absolutely certain you’ll love the device.
I hope you have a great week ahead.
Regards Bob
(Founder, COR Health)
P.S. Please only select shipping to the USA or Canada. Unfortunately, we will need to cancel orders placed to other countries. We do not have regulatory approval for new territories yet. We expect to gain approval later this year.
but lower ESR is clearly better.
