By MainStreet.com Staff Writers
If you are concerned about your cardiac health, take note.
According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented that the American Heart Association meeting in November, a large scale study comprising 17,802 patients at 1,315 sites in 26 countries (the Jupiter study), concluded that a $20 blood test could help predict if you are at risk for heart attack or stroke.
High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein is an inexpensive blood test that your physician can order to determine if your C-Reactive Protein level is elevated. If it is, by treating you with a statin type drug you could reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke by nearly 50%.
If you are on a statin drug, you need to have simple blood tests on a routine basis to monitor the effectiveness of the drug as well as to check for any liver enzyme issues. These tests can be administered with a point of care (POC) device such as the Cholestech LDX which will provide the test results in minutes. Once you have the results, your doctor or other health care professional and evaluate and manage your cholesterol levels, prescribe any dosing changes and schedule a follow up appointment.
Other companies provide monitoring and management tools that health care professionals can use. One developer, Standing Stone, Inc, has web-based software applications deployed at hospital and physician offices throughout the US.
By some estimates, everyone with elevated High Sensitivity C-Reactive protein were placed on a statin, it would reduce the incidence of heart attack and stroke significantly and save the U.S. healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
For more information click here.
For more health-and-money related discussions, check out Geezeo’s Health Insurance — AHHH! Group.
