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A cheap blood test can predict which apparently healthy patients are at high risk of a heart attack. Experts say it could be better than just checking blood pressure and cholesterol to assess heart risk.
一项花费不贵的血液检查可以预示哪些表面看起来健康的患者其实处于心脏病发作的高风险下。专家表示，这可能比通过检查血压和胆固醇来评估心脏风险的效果更好。
So far, they have tested it only on men, but the British Heart Foundation-funded researchers say it should work in women too.
到目前为止，他们只测试了男性，但英国心脏基金会资助的研究人员称，女性应该同样适用。
The test, called troponin, looks for a protein released when the heart muscle is damaged.
这项血液测试本质是寻找血液中一种叫做肌钙蛋白的蛋白质。
Doctors already use the same blood test to help diagnose men and women who they suspect have just had a heart attack.
医生已经使用相同的血液测试来帮助诊断那些他们怀疑刚刚有过心脏病发作的男性和女性。
In their study, Prof Nicholas Mills and colleagues found men who had higher levels of troponin in their blood were more likely to have a heart attack or die of heart disease up to 15 years later.
在他们的研究中，尼古拉送·米尔斯及其同事发现，血液中肌钙蛋白水平较高的男性更可能在15年后出现心脏病发作或因心脏病死亡。
But putting some of these high-risk men on preventive treatment, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, lowered their risk as well as their troponin levels.
但如果在这些心脏病发病率高的男性身上采取些预防治疗的话，如让他们服用他汀类药物这样的降胆固醇药物，就会降低他们血液中的肌钙蛋白水平同时就能降低他们的心脏病发病率。
The 3,300 men in the study had high cholesterol but no history of heart disease. The scientists now plan to do more research involving women too.
该项研究中的3300名男性患有高胆固醇，但没有心脏病史。科学家们现在计划在更多的女性身上做这项血液测试。
Prof David Newby, one of the authors of the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said: "Troponin is almost like a barometer of heart health. If it creeps up, that's bad and your risk of heart problems increases. If it goes down, that's good.”
戴维·纽比y教授曾在《美国心脏病学会杂志》上发表过研究成果，他说：“肌钙蛋白几乎就像一个心脏健康的晴雨表，如果它增长，这预示着不好，预示着你的心脏出问题的风险在增加。如果它下降，那这就是好的。”
Dr Tim Chico, a cardiologist from Sheffield University, said: "The problem with heart disease is that it remains very difficult to detect the early signs in people without symptoms, so these findings may provide a way to help identify people at risk.”
来自谢菲尔德大学的心脏病学家蒂姆·奇科博士说：“心脏病的问题是，在没有显现出症状的人们身上很难判断心脏疾病的存在，因此这项血液测试能帮助识别哪些人处于心脏病发作的危险中。”
"Nevertheless, the best way to treat heart disease is to prevent it in the first place, and this is why a healthy diet, regular physical activity, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure is so important."
“但是，治疗心脏病最好的方法还是要预防它，这就是为什么健康的饮食，定期的运动，不吸烟，保持健康的体重和血压是如此重要的原因了。”
