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Researchers have tried, without much success, to improve on the prognostic accuracy of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (i.e., age, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, hyperlipidemia, and body-mass index) by adding so-called “biomarkers” to predictive models. This study represents the latest contribution.
Researchers measured four biomarkers — troponin I, N-terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), cystatin C, and C-reactive protein (CRP) — in 1135 older Swedish men (mean age, 71). During a median 10-year follow-up, 12% of subjects died from cardiovascular disease. Compared with a model based solely on traditional risk factors, statistical models that incorporated the four biomarkers plus traditional risk factors significantly improv…