Emed News

More than a million Americans suffer heart attacks every year. What you may not know is that many of those don't have any risk factors for a heart attack. A new study said a simple blood test might one day be able to help before it's too late. Heart attacks can happen without any warning. Your first heart attack might be your last. Knowing before it happens makes one new predictive blood test worth talking about. Jante Yarbrough believes if he stays in shape he will stay healthy. "I play basketball and lift weights." At 20, Yarbrough has no risk factors for heart disease. He doesn't smoke, have high blood pressure or cholesterol, but that doesn't mean he's safe. The first sign of heart disease is usually a heart attack. Unfortunately, one out of every three person who has a heart attack won't survive.

Healthy people can benefit from a blood test which measures an enzyme called myeloperoxidase. "Being able to identify those who are at-risk to have coronary artery diseases and be at-risk to have heart attacks is really the majority of the battle," according to Dr. Stanley Hazen, the developer of the MPO blood test. Secreted by the white blood cells, MPO signals inflammation. It releases bleach like substance which damages the cardiovascular system. More than a decade ago, Hazen connected heart attacks in people with existing heart problems to MPO. New studies suggested MPO might be a predictive marker for heart diseases in healthier people. Physicians like George Gabriel are intrigued by the findings. "If you had top levels of MPO, which was the same risk of having an event as if you had high LDL cholesterol," said Gabriel. The six year study of more than 3,000 people at the age of 40 and older showed MPO levels were much higher in healthy people who later developed heart disease or had a heart attack. But were those levels the cause or effect?

"That's the question," Gabriel said. "That's something which needs to be evaluated further." Hazen said the findings might help determine who benefits from an MPO screening test. Yarbrough said he'd take the test if it becomes available. Hazen is confident of his MPO blood test. He had reportedly filed for patents on MPO as a biomarker for cardiovascular diseases. He believes this test will be primarily for those people who don't know they may be at risk for a heart attack.