Blood Test Predicts Heart Problems

A simple blood test might one day help doctors determine which heart disease patients need more aggressive treatment Research led by investigators from the University of California, San Francisco, reveals people with higher levels of NT pro-BNP are significantly more likely to either die or have another cardiac event than people with lower levels of the cardiac biomarker.
NT pro-BNP is a chemical released by cells in the heart. When too much pressure is placed on these cells, they release more of the chemical. Scientists wanted to know how well measurements of NT pro-BNP would predict worsening heart problems or death.

The scientists compared nearly 1,000 coronary heart disease (CHD) patients who had recently been hospitalized with a heart problem and classified them according to their NT pro-BNP levels. Those with the highest levels had an eight-times higher rate of heart disease events than those with the lowest levels, who had only about a 2 percent to 3 percent event rate.

NT pro-BNP was most strongly associated with heart failure, a condition the researchers note can be more effectively treated if caught in its earliest stages.

"Use of a simple blood test for NT-proBNP level may help guide risk stratification and may focus efforts toward preventing adverse cardiovascular events in high-risk patients with stable CHD," write the authors.

In an accompanying editorial, Marvin A. Konstam, M.D., from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, writes peptides like NT pro-BNP don’t actually cause heart disease, like high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure. He writes testing for and treating peptide levels might not have the same effect as testing for and treating high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007;297:169-176

================================

Start your own walking program
New StepTracker Available at special prices. See the results of the Step Program Study.
https://www.diabetesincontrol.com/programs/steps/index.shtml
Purchase your own pedometers and receive the Steps to Health Program at no charge. https://www.rx4betterhealth.com/steptracker/
The Only Pedometer on the Market That Comes With a Program for Success!

================================

DID YOU KNOW:
New Possible Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes?: Elixir Pharmaceuticals released new data last weeks, on research that ultimately could lead to a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The Cambridge company focuses on metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, and it is closely studying ghrelin, a hormone secreted by the stomach. "Ghrelin represents one of the most exciting and well-characterized targets in obesity and diabetes research today because of its central role in regulating metabolism," chief scientific officer Peter DiStefano said in a statement. "These preclinical data provide compelling evidence and further confirm ghrelin’s role in metabolic regulation. Importantly, our scientists have shown pharmacologic inhibition of the ghrelin receptor results in a reduction in fasting glucose levels, reduction in insulin resistance, and weight loss."