Test Could Predict Heart Attack, Stroke Risk

Experts said a blood test commonly given in the emergency room could help predict the risk of a heart patient having a heart attack or stroke in the near future, NBC11's Marianne Favro reported. A simple blood test for the protein NT-proBNP accurately predicts the risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and death in patients with known cardiovascular disease, according to a study led by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. The study of 987 men and women with stable coronary heart disease revealed that the higher a patient's level of NT-proBNP, the greater the chance the patient would die or have a cardiovascular event - heart attack, heart failure, or stroke. "After adjusting for all other risk factors, it's clear that this marker is picking up something that we are otherwise unable to detect with standard tests such as echocardiography," says principal investigator Mary Whooley, MD, a staff physician at SFVAMC and an associate professor of medicine at UCSF. The study appears in the January 10, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

N-Terminal Fragment of the Prohormone Brain-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP), Cardiovascular Events, and Mortality in Patients with Stable Coronary Heart Disease Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD; Reena Gupta, MD; Beeya Na, MPH: Alan H. B. Wu, PhD; Nelson B. Schiller, MD; Mary A. Whooley, MD JAMA. 2007;297:169-176. Abstract | Full Text | Full Text (PDF)

Related Links: UCSF: Test Could Predict Heart Attack, Stroke Risk NBC11, January 26, 2007 Blood Test Predicts Cardiac Events and Death in Heart Patients UCSF News Release, January 9, 2007