text_1: New blood test may predict cardiovascular events in patients with or without coronary artery disease, research shows
text_2: The news release reports on research suggesting that testing for plasma ceramides, a type of blood lipid, might enable doctors to identify individuals at higher risk for heart attacks and strokes even though they have healthy cholesterol levels and no evidence of coronary blockage. It provides a readable and reasonably straightforward account of what the researchers did and why it might be important, but there are a number of significant omissions. First, the release should have acknowledged that this test — even if it does effectively identify individuals at increased risk of a heart attack or stroke — may not lead to treatment that actually lowers that risk. Knowing about an increased risk doesn’t mean that risk can be reduced. Many other similar risk markers have been proposed over the years and so far haven’t been found very useful for actually guiding treatment that improves outcomes. Moreover, the research discussed in the release was being presented at a scientific meeting, meaning it has not yet gone through the peer-review process for publication in a journal. In addition, the news release provides no information about the costs of the new test, which appears to be available only through Mayo Medical Laboratories. It also does not discuss the possibility of false positive results, potentially leading to unnecessary treatment. Cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, kills more Americans than any other disease, including cancer. Although health experts have long advised people to try to maintain low cholesterol levels – especially for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – research suggests that as many as half of all heart attacks occur in individuals who have normal cholesterol levels. In addition, heart attacks can occur in individuals, especially women, for whom angiograms show no blockage of the coronary arteries.