"We're interested in taking the principles used by NASA and applying them to healthy people. An individual who is interested in obtaining a lot of information about his heart risk over the next 10 to 20 years can get a lot of useful information from these five tests," Dr. de Lemos said.
Both researchers emphasized, however, that these tests aren't for everyone and should only be done in collaboration with a physician with expertise in heart disease prevention, to help interpret the results.
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Researchers used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), which included a population of 6,621 individuals, and the Dallas Heart Study, which included 2,202 individuals. Both studies include large numbers of minorities and women among their participants, and both studies involve individuals who were healthy at the onset of the study.
The landmark Dallas Heart Study, a multiethnic, population-based study begun in 2000, has led to more than 200 published scientific studies, and most notably identified a mutation in a gene called PCSK9 that resulted in extremely low levels of cholesterol. The Dallas Heart Study was established with funding provided by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
Support for the study included the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, and Roche Diagnostics.
Other UT Southwestern researchers who participated in the study are Colby Ayers, Faculty Associate; Dr. Benjamin Levine, Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, jointly run by UT Southwestern and Texas Health Resources; Dr. Jarett Berry, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and of Clinical Sciences; Dr. Darren McGuire, Professor of Internal Medicine; and Dr. Mark Drazner, Professor of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Levine holds the Distinguished Professorship in Exercise Sciences; Dr. Berry is a Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care; Dr. McGuire holds the Dallas Heart Ball Chair for Research on Heart Disease in Women; and Dr. Drazner holds the James M. Wooten Chair in Cardiology.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty includes many distinguished members, including six who have been awarded Nobel Prizes since 1985. The faculty of almost 2,800 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide medical care in about 80 specialties to more than 100,000 hospitalized patients and oversee approximately 2.2 million outpatient visits a year.
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