Blood Protein a Key to Preventing Heart Attacks and Strokes (zt)
Researchers have found a blood protein that promotes inflammation of the arteries to be a key component to heart disease. In fact, lowering the amount of this protein is seen in two independent studies to be just as important as reducing cholesterol in preventing heart attacks and strokes.
This new evidence indicates that patients who wish to reduce their chances of suffering a heart-related illness must reduce both LDL or bad cholesterol and CRP or C-reactive protein.
'If we think only about cholesterol, we now have hard evidence that we're not doing the best we can for our patients,' said the lead author of one of the papers, Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
A test to determine the amount of CRP in someone's blood is available to doctors and costs only $10-$15.
Reducing both the level of LDL and CRP in your blood is a key to reducing heart disease. LDL should be below 70 while CRP should drop below 2 milligrams per liter in your blood. This reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke by another 50 percent over just reducing LDL.
The two independent studies were both published in today's 'New England Journal of Medicine.' Researchers are hopeful that the new information can lead to new medications that can prevent heart disease-related illnesses from taking so many lives.
Brad Kurtzberg
