Scientists have developed a simple blood test that can predict a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease over the next 30 years. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
Scientists said Saturday they have developed a simple blood test that can predict women’s cardiovascular disease risks 30 years from now. Research supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that measuring two types of fat in the bloodstream, along with C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, can predict a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease decades later.
“We can’t treat what we don’t measure, and we hope these findings will allow us to identify even earlier ways to detect and prevent heart disease,” said Paul M. Ridker, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. For the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team collected blood samples and medical information from 27,939 health care professionals living in the United States who participated in the Women’s Health Study.
Women who began the study between 1992 and 1995, with an average age of 55, were followed for 30 years. During this period, 3,662 study participants suffered a heart attack, stroke, surgery to restore circulation, or cardiovascular-related death. The researchers assessed how high-sensitivity CRP, along with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lipoprotein (a)—a lipid partially composed of LDL—predicted these events individually and collectively. When all three measures were assessed together, participants with the highest levels had a more than 1.5-fold increased risk of stroke and a more than 3-fold increased risk of coronary heart disease compared with women with the lowest levels.
Although this study only looked at women, we expected to find similar results in men. “In recent years, we’ve learned more about how elevated levels of inflammation can interact with lipids to increase cardiovascular disease risks,” said Ahmed AK Hasan, program director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). “This helps explain why lower levels are often better.” Researchers suggest regular physical activity, a heart-healthy diet, managing stress, avoiding tobacco, and quitting smoking to minimize heart disease risk.
(Inputs: IANS)
