A new approach to a routine blood test could predict a person’s 30-year risk of heart disease, research published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine found. #HeartDiseaseRiskTest
Doctors have traditionally used blood tests to assess cardiovascular risk by focusing on LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels. However, experts say that relying solely on cholesterol testing overlooks other important and often silent risk factors.
“We have other biomarkers that tell us about other kinds of biological problems our patients who are destined to have cardiovascular disease are likely to have,” said lead study author Dr. Paul Ridker, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Ridker and his team found that lipoprotein (a) and an inflammation marker are crucial for predicting heart attack and stroke risk. These markers, alongside LDL cholesterol, help assess the risk of coronary heart disease more accurately.
The findings were also presented Saturday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2024 in London.
In the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 30,000 U.S. women who joined the Women’s Health Study. The average age of the women at enrollment was 55, between 1992 and 1995. Over a 30-year follow-up, about 13% of participants experienced heart attacks, strokes, or heart disease-related deaths.
Though the research was done in women, Ridker said the findings would likely also apply to men. #HeartDiseaseRiskTest
Moreover, the heart disease risk test provides valuable insights into individual health risks.
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