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Article: It turns out blood tests aren't stellar heart attack predictors
- Article from:
- Daily Breeze
- Article date:
- December 21, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Daily Breeze. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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New blood tests that doctors hoped would more accurately predict
which patients are headed for a heart attack or stroke are no better
than cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other conventional
measurements, a study found.
Doctors in recent years had become excited over substances in the
blood that appeared to be powerful new predictors of a heart attack.
These substances included C-reactive protein, or CRP; homocysteine;
and BNP, or B-type natriuretic peptide.
An increasing number of family doctors have been ordering
expensive tests for these substances, and some patients have started
requesting them, in hopes of identifying people who do not have the
standard risk factors but are ...