Low-Cost Blood Test Indicates Heart Risk
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Contributed by William Angelos| 10 January, 2007 03:46 GMT
A simple, blood test costing $20 to $40 may be useful for identifying individuals at the highest risk of suffering a stroke or heart attack, suggests a study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
Such a tool could allow physicians to begin implementing preventive therapies before a crisis occurred, according to study author Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California-San Francisco.
The study followed 987 people for an average span of 3.7 years. The participants underwent blood tests to measure their level of NT-proBNP -- amino acids related to heart function.
Those with the highest levels of NT-proBNP were almost eight times more likely to experience a stroke, heart attack or heart failure than those with the lowest levels, the study found.
Some experts reacted skeptically to the study's findings, maintaining that knowledge of a heart patient's NT-proBNP level would alter neither management of their condition nor outcome. |
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