Better way to predict heart attacks is discovered

A new test measures levels of a protein that increase with the amount of inflammation in coronary arteries. Healthy women with the highest levels of this substance have more than four times the risk of suffering a heart or blood-vessel problem than women with lower levels of the marker. Previous research revealed that men with the highest levels of this protein in their blood have three times the risk of heart attack and two times the risk of stroke compared to men with the lowest levels. The Food and Drug Administration approved the first test for this protein in November 1999. "It's now available to all doctors and costs about $15-$20," says Paul Ridker, a cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.