Key Point:

• Researchers compared blood samples from people who had had their first heart attack with blood samples from healthy participants and identified 90 molecules associated with the risk of a first heart attack.
• A team of researchers has developed a simple online tool that allows anyone to find out their risk of having a heart attack within six months.
• Research findings and online tools can help motivate people to take precautions.

Heart attacks are the most common cause of death worldwide, but many high-risk people are not identified or receive preventive treatment. Now, a new study has been published. Nature cardiovascular researcha standard blood test has been shown to predict heart attacks.

The research team hypothesized that several important biological processes are active in the months before a heart attack occurs. They wanted to develop a way to detect these processes using a simple blood test to identify people who are at risk of having their first heart attack soon.

Researchers had access to blood samples from 169,052 people without previous cardiovascular disease in six European cohorts. Within six months, 420 of these people had their first heart attack, and their blood was then compared to samples from 1,598 healthy cohort members.

After comparisons, the research team identified around 90 molecules associated with first heart attack risk. They hope to use this information to motivate people to take precautions. Additionally, they have developed a simple online tool that allows anyone to know his risk of having a heart attack within 6 months.

Professor Johan Sundström from Uppsala University explained: “We know that people feel relatively less motivated to receive preventive treatment, so this was one of the aims of the whole study.” “If you know your risk of having a heart attack in the near future is increased, you’ll probably be more motivated to try to prevent it.”

As a next step, the researchers plan to study 90 new molecules to determine whether they have therapeutic potential. They also want to identify whether online tools provide incentives to adopt preventive behaviors.