Blood Protein May Be Better Predictor of Heart Disease

A study has found that a blood protein called serum amyloid alpha (SAA), made in response to inflammation, may be a more important predictor of future heart attack than C-reactive protein (CRP). The findings were reported in the February 17, 2004, issue of Circulation.

The study involved 705 women referred to specialists for angiography of suspected coronary artery blockage. Participants had blood tests for SAA and CRP levels as well as a thorough angiographic assessment and were followed for three years. The results showed that SAA levels were independently linked to active heart disease and also were highly predictive of short-term cardiovascular events. The researchers found that while CRP tends to indicate a more global reaction to systemic inflammation, SAA appears to respond more to active heart disease. Results indicate that every one-milligram-per-liter of blood increase in SAA corresponded to an increase in the three-year risk for a cardiovascular event of more than 3%.

"Smoking, hormone usage, and even some psychological stress are related to elevated CRP but not SAA,” noted first author B. Delia Johnson, Ph.D., epidemiology faculty research associate at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health (PA, USA). "On the other hand, women with coronary artery disease tend to have elevated SAA but not CRP. Furthermore, this relationship with cardiovascular events was true whether a woman actually had obstructed coronary arteries or not.”




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