Study finds new test could better predict risk of heart disease
Ella Day | April 28, 2025 | News story | Research and Development | Cardiology, Chalmers University of Technologyu, Harvard, cholesterol tests, cvd
A study by Harvard University, US, and Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has found that measuring a lipoprotein marker combination could give more accurate information on risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than conventional cholesterol tests. This finding has the potential to save lives.
For almost 60 years, cholesterol tests have been standard practice for assessing CVD risk as, when in excess, cholesterol can build in the walls of blood vessels and increase the chance of CVD. However, in recent years, lipoproteins that carry cholesterol have become a focal point when studying CVD risk as they are responsible for cholesterol transportation.
This study is an example of this shift. Conducted over 15 years, it found the best indicators for CVD risk are lipoproteins that carry a protein called apoB and a lipoprotein called lipoprotein(a).
Testing apoB “offers a more accurate test than standard cholesterol measures. That does not mean conventional tests are ineffective; they generally perform well,” said lead author of the study and Chalmers fellow, Jakub Morze.
Blood samples from over 200,000 people in the UK Biobank, who had no history of CVD, were analysed, measuring the number and size of different lipoproteins using a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
Switching to apoB testing could improve preventative methods and reduce CVD mortality. Currently, CVD diseases are the leading cause of death globally, according to the World Health Organization.
“The blood test for these two markers is commercially available now and would be cheap and easy enough to implement,” said Clemens Wittenbecher, assistant professor of precision medicine and diagnostics at Chalmers.
Ella Day
28/4/25
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