Research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that measuring two types of fat in the bloodstream along with C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, can predict a woman’s risk for cardiovascular disease decades later.
These findings, presented as late-breaking research at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2024, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
For the study, investigators collected blood samples and medical information from 27,939 health care providers living in the United States who participated in the Women’s Health Study. Women, who started the study between 1992-1995 at an average age of 55, were followed for 30 years. During this period, 3,662 study participants experienced a heart attack, stroke, surgery to restore circulation, or a cardiovascular-related death. Researchers assessed how high-sensitivity CRP, along with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a lipid partly made of LDL, singularly and collectively predicted these events.
Participants were grouped into five categories — ranging from those with the highest to lowest levels — to measure each of the three markers. Researchers found that women with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol had a 36% increased associated risk for heart disease compared to those with the lowest levels. Those with the highest levels of Lp(a) had a 33% increased associated risk, and those with the highest levels of CRP had a 70% increased associated risk.
When all three measures — LDL cholesterol, Lp(a), and CRP — were assessed together, participants with the highest levels had more than a 1.5-times increased associated risk for stroke and more than a three-times increased associated risk for coronary heart disease compared to women with the lowest levels.
The researchers note that while only women were assessed in this study, they would expect to find similar results in men.
