Researchers said they’ve determined a new way of testing blood could predict a woman’s 30-year risk of heart disease, according to the National Institutes of Health, which supported the study.
Measuring two types of fat in the bloodstream along with C-reactive protein (CRP), which is an indicator of inflammation, helps to better determine heart disease risks than measuring low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol alone, the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said.
Researchers collected blood samples and medical information from 27,939 health care providers living in the United States who participated in the Women’s Health Study. The participants were an average age of 55.
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NIH said 3,662 of the study participants experienced a heart attack, stroke, surgery to restore circulation or a cardiovascular-related death during the 30-year follow period.
Researchers measured and assessed how high-sensitivity CRP, LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) singularly and collectively predicted these events, NIH said.
The women with the highest levels of CRP had a 70% increased associated risk of heart disease, while the participants with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) had a 36% and 33% increased risk for heart disease, respectively.
When all three measures were assessed together, participants with the highest levels had more than a 1.5-times increased associated risk for stroke and more than a three-times increased associated risk for coronary heart disease compared to women with the lowest levels, NIH said.
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While only women were used for this study, researchers said they would expect similar results in men.
“In recent years, we’ve learned more about how increased levels of inflammation can interact with lipids to compound cardiovascular disease risks,” said Dr. Ahmed A.K. Hasan, a medical officer and program director at NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “This helps explain why lower levels are often better.”
