Cholesterol test doctors use to predict heart disease ‘may be missing thousands’

An expert has warned that thousands of Brits are at risk of heart disease and stroke today due to NHS standardized cholesterol tests.

Patients over the age of 40 who are overweight or considered to be at risk have regular blood tests to check their levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), known as bad cholesterol.

Those with high levels are offered treatments, including diet programs and medications such as statins, to lower their levels and reduce the risk of serious illness.

But Dr Richard Webb, a subject expert at Liverpool Hope University, says the tests lacked thousands of high cholesterol levels and are therefore at risk.

He asked the NHS to use the apoliopoprotein B (ApoB) test in addition to the existing test. The routine test measures the amount of cholesterol stored in the blood, while counting the exact number of LDL-C particles in the blood.

About two out of every five people in the UK have high cholesterol, and about one in three adults in the US suffer from it.

Both tests require samples to be sent to a lab, but the LDL-C test costs around £30 at a time, and the ApoB test costs more than £130.

Usually, test scores are roughly aligned.

But in about two percent of cases, equivalent to thousands of patients, there is a “consistency” that the ApoB-only test says is cause for concern.

The NHS normally tests LDL-C for all patients, but will also offer an ApoB test to patients in hospitals.

Dr. Webb, you can go to ‘GP’ and have your LDL-C checked and it may be back to normal and not causing any red flags.

“But our results show that they can eat very well on a poor diet and are also prone to chronic disease.”

The number of patients who died was “a relatively low figure,” he said.

However, there are still potentially thousands of people who go to their GP and are not warned about their risk of heart attack, added Dr. webb.

Last year Dr. For an article in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease, clinical nutritionist Webb and colleagues studied 14,265 patients who took both tests.

He found that 285—or two percent—cholesterol was low on the LDL-C test, but had high levels on the ApoB test.

Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in the UK with an average of 120 deaths per 100,000 people per month and stroke is the sixth leading cause of death at around 66 deaths per 100,000 people.

It is just behind dementia, which causes 150 deaths per 100,000 according to official data.

Charities suggest the pandemic could lead to 12,000 more deaths from heart attacks and strokes in the next five years without the immediate action of ministers.