A recent study highlights that measuring three specific blood biomarkers in midlife could provide women with an early indication of their risk for major cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes, potentially decades earlier than traditional risk calculators. Dr. Paul Ridker, who led the study and serves as the director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, emphasized the simplicity and low cost of these tests, which could forecast cardiovascular risk up to 30 years in advance.
The research, which followed nearly 40,000 women starting in the early 1990s and funded by the US National Institutes of Health, used widely available tests costing between $10 to $12 to measure levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), and lipoprotein(a) (LP(a)). These biomarkers, individually and in combination, were found to significantly predict cardiovascular risk.
Women with elevated levels of these markers faced a dramatically increased risk of experiencing cardiovascular events. Those with high CRP levels were about 70% more likely to suffer a major heart event, while high levels of LDL and LP(a) increased the risk by 36% and 33%, respectively.
The study’s findings underscore the need for earlier intervention and routine testing of these biomarkers as part of primary care, especially for women, who are often underdiagnosed and undertreated for heart disease compared to men. Dr. Gina Lundberg, a preventive cardiologist and clinical director of the Women’s Heart Center at Emory University, noted that many physicians do not regularly test for CRP or LP(a) levels, missing critical risk information.
This research calls for a shift in how doctors approach cardiovascular disease prevention in women, advocating for earlier and more frequent testing to help mitigate the high rates of heart disease among women.
