The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given green signal to a blood test that claims to measure the risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest and other cardio-vascular disease in the patients.
The blood test is intended for only those people who have no history of heart disease.
According to the health experts, the test clearly determines a patient’s risk of cardiac disease with the help of identification of a biomarker known as Lp-PLA2.
Lp-PLA2 signals the cardio-vascular inflammation associated with the accumulation of artery-clogging plaques.
In a statement the federal health body FDA said, “Patients with test results that show Lp-PLA2 activity greater than the level of 225 nanomoles per minute per milliliter are at increased risk for a heart disease event.”
The medical experts believe the test is mainly effective at predicting the cardio-vascular risk in women, especially African-Americans.
For the clinical study to measure effectiveness of the blood test, the researchers involved more than 4,500 patients having no history of heart disease. The researchers followed up with test-takers after an average of 5.3 years. The participants whose Lp-PLA2 levels tested higher than 225 nanomoles witnessed a 7 percent incidence rate. While those who tested below, suffered a coronary heart ailment event rate of 3.5 percent.
With the death toll of more than 385,000 people each year, the coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the Unites States among all races.