Blood test may be more effective and cost-efficient than standard cholesterol tests

• A study suggests that measuring apolipoprotein B (apoB) may provide a more accurate assessment of cardiovascular risk than traditional cholesterol markers like LDL or non-HDL cholesterol.
• Researchers suggest treatment strategies guided by apoB levels could prevent more heart attacks and strokes over a lifetime compared with current standard approaches.
• Although apoB testing is not yet widely used in routine practice, the study suggests it is not only more effective than standard cholesterol tests, but also cost-efficient.

Roughly 11% of American adults 20 years and older have high total cholesterol levels. While many could benefit from cholesterol medication, evidence notes that just over half of U.S. adults who could benefit are currently taking it.

Current routine cholesterol tests typically include a lipid panel to measure total cholesterol levels, which can help to assess a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke. Clinicians can use this information to help guide whether a person may need to initiate statin therapy.

While focusing on cholesterol levels can help with deciding when to start and intensify cholesterol-lowering treatment, these tests may not provide a full picture of a patients risk.

Now, a study published in JAMA suggests that a lesser-used blood marker, apolipoprotein B (apoB), could offer a more accurate and cost-effective alternative to help guide treatment decisions and prevent more cardiovascular events than current standard approaches.