They’re getting to the heart of the issue.
Doctors say a simple “three-pronged” blood test can accurately predict a patient’s risk of heart attack and stroke 30 years ahead of time.
At present, medics usually perform an LDL cholesterol test to determine whether a person is vulnerable to various heart problems.
But in a groundbreaking new study conducted over the span of three decades, experts also tested blood for two additional biomarkers: CRP, a protein produced by the liver that increases in response to inflammation, and lipoprotein(a), a type of fat in the body.
The results, published Saturday in The New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that high-sensitivity CRP and high levels of lipoprotein(a), along with high cholesterol levels, were “predictive of incident cardiovascular events.”
The study authors say a blood test that examines all three biomarkers gives a more accurate and detailed picture of a patient’s heart health, which will revolutionize preventative care.
“All three [biomarkers] represent different biological processes,” lead study author Dr. Paul Ridker told NBC News. “They tell us why someone is actually at risk.”
Ridker is now urging other doctors to conduct the “three-pronged blood test” when patients are in their 30s or 40s, to “catch potentially overlooked risk factors early.”
“Physicians will not treat things they don’t measure,” he declared.
For the study led by Ridker, doctors blood-tested almost 30,000 American women over 30 years, examining the three separate biomarkers.
When the study kicked off in the mid-1990s, the average participant was 55 years old.
Over the ensuing three decades, 13% of the volunteers experienced a cardiovascular issue, such as a heart attack or stroke.
Women with the highest levels of lipoprotein(a) at the outset of the study ended up having a 33% increased risk of experiencing a cardiovascular issue.
Meanwhile, those with the highest levels of CRP were a staggering 70% more at risk.
And, when tested together with cholesterol, women who had the highest levels in all three categories were more than three times more likely to develop heart disease.
However, with early detection from the blood tests, doctors say appropriate prevention methods can be put in place to drastically reduce the number of patients with chronic heart health issues.
“This is a largely preventable disease,” Ridker declared.
