Blood Test may help Doctors predict Heart risk- Study

A simple blood test for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) may help doctors identify their risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and death, allowing doctors to determine heart disease risk level in advance and enabling them to help patients on time, according to a new US study carried out by Californian scientists.

The study led by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center revealed Tuesday that the test, which has been used for years in hospital emergency rooms to confirm a diagnosis of heart failure, is now proved to be an excellent predictor of the severe consequences of heart disease, even when traditional assessments such as treadmill stress tests and echocardiography fail to confirm it.

"We are very good in this country at diagnosing heart disease," said lead researcher Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, who is an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. "But we're not very good at distinguishing who's at high risk for future problems and starting them on preventive therapies. This test could make all the difference," she added.

For the study, published in January 10th issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, Domingo and her colleagues involved 987 patients with coronary heart disease. They then assessed the association of plasma NT-proBNP (N-terminal fragment of the prohormone brain-type natriuretic peptide) levels with heart attack, stroke, heart failure and death.

After following the patients for an average of 3.7 year, the research team noted that increased levels of NT-proBNP at the start of the study were linked with a greater risk of cardiovascular events or death.

The researchers found that patients with the highest levels of the NT-proBNP had nearly eight times the risk of stroke, heart attack or heart failure, compared with those who had the lowest level of substance. Each increased level of peptide was linked to a 2.3-fold increased rate of adverse cardiovascular events.

During the study, 256 or 26.2 percent patients experienced an adverse cardiovascular event, including 34 who died from heart disease.

Domingo anticipates that after their findings the doctors would employ the blood test alongside many tests they use to determine which heart patients are at higher risk for developing the disease. "Knowing who is at highest risk will help us to target those who can benefit from the surgical and medical treatments that we know are lifesaving for people with heart disease," she said.

Contrary to this, some experts think that knowing NT-proBNP levels will not have any impact on the treatment of patients with heart disease.

Dr. Marvin A. Konstam, who is chief of cardiology at the Tufts-New England Medical Center and a professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, did not find the study reasonable for the doctors to order this test for a patient with coronary disease, contending that the study patients did not get the treatment recommended in the national guidelines.

In US alone, an estimated 71 million people have one or more forms of cardiovascular disease, and the most Americans die from the heart disease, as per the information provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which sponsored the study along with the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.