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A
new blood test could predict a person’s risk of having a heart attack,
stroke, or heart failure within the next four years — a major development
that is already informing how doctors treat their patients.
“I think this is the new frontier of personalized medicine,
to be able to answer the question, does this person need enhanced treatment?
And when you’ve treated someone, did it actually work?” lead researcher Dr.
Stephen Williams told The Guardian.
In the U.S., around 805,000 people suffer heart attacks each year, and more
than 795,000 have a stroke. This blood test, which has been rolled out in
four American healthcare systems, is about twice as good at
predicting such medical emergencies when compared to existing methods,
according to a study Williams’ team published in April.
Looking ahead, Williams said he hopes the test will also be used as a quick
way to assess cardiovascular drugs in development, getting treatments
to patients faster and saving lives in the process.
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