Swedish researchers have created a home questionnaire that can help identify high risks of heart attack.
- Swedish researchers have developed a home questionnaire that can quickly identify people at risk of heart attack.
- The test consists of 14 questions that take between five and eight minutes to complete.
- Combined with a specific algorithm, it manages to detect 65% of individuals at highest risk of cardiovascular disease.
Every year, 40,000 people die prematurely from cardiac arrest in France. Rapid diagnosis and treatment are the key to survival. The questionnaire developed by a team from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) could help to identify more quickly people at high risk of myocardial infarction.
“A heart attack often comes unexpectedly”explains Dr. Göran Bergström, lead researcher and professor of clinical physiology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, in a communicated presenting the test. “Many people who suffer a heart attack are apparently healthy and asymptomatic, but have fatty deposits in their coronary arteries, called atherosclerosis. Our test can identify nearly two-thirds of people aged 50 to 64 who have significant coronary atherosclerosis and are therefore at high risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Heart attack: an algorithm helps identify people at risk
The questionnaire, which can be administered at the patient’s home, consists of 14 questions. They include age, gender, weight, waist circumference, smoking, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, diabetes and family history of cardiovascular disease. The team determined which risk factors were most closely related to the degree of atherosclerosis, and therefore to be monitored, using the medical records of 25,000 people living in Sweden aged 50 to 64.
The test takes five to eight minutes. The information collected is fed into a specially developed algorithm. Trials have shown that it can identify 65% of individuals at highest risk of cardiovascular disease. “The results show that our home test is as accurate as a clinical examination using blood tests and blood pressure measurements”continues Professor Bergström.
Heart attack: early identification can save lives
Identifying individuals at risk before a heart attack occurs is key to reducing mortality. For the researchers, their home test, highlighted in the journal Journal of the American Heart Associationallows early warnings to be produced.
“If we can make the test widely available in the healthcare sector, it could save lives and prevent suffering by helping us identify people at high risk of heart attack or those who are currently undertreated.”assures Professor Bergström.
In addition, the research team has also launched new studies in Sweden and on data from the USA to evaluate how the test works on different groups.
