You could be a risk of a heart attack and have no clue. If you have high levels of a fatty particle or lipoprotein, you have a higher risk of blood clots, plaque in your heart, and stroke or heart attack, Laurie McGinley and Alix Pianin report for the Washington Post.
The lipoprotein or Lp(a) level is similar in some ways to your LDL. But a high Lp(a) level puts you at added risk of stroke or heart attack. And, people in their 40s and 50s share that risk with people in their 60s and older.
Roughly one in five Americans are at risk of having a high Lp(a), 65 million people in the US alone. Black Americans of African descent are disproportionately at risk of a high Lp(a) level. But, everyone is at some risk.
A high Lp(a) also increases your risk of vascular disease. But, too often, physicians don’t appreciate the risk of a high Lp(a) level. And, they don’t generally test for it.
The Lp(a) test is similar to a cholesterol test. A normal level is below 75. A level above 125 puts you at high risk.
Part of the reason physicians don’t test for Lp(a) levels is that physicians don’t know how to treat patients with a high Lp(a). As a general rule, people with high levels are born with a gene that drives up their level of Lp(a). Exercise and diet won’t help them. Unfortunately, prescription drugs won’t help them either.
That said, if your Lp(a) level is high and your LDL level is high, experts recommend you reduce your LDL level to 55 through lifestyle changes, weight loss, and medicines. Some people get apheresis, a procedure in which a machine removes Lp(a) and LDL cholesterol from their blood. But, apheresis is costly, and insurance usually won’t cover it.
Drugs in development are showing signs of being able to reduce people’s Lp(a) levels significantly–sometimes as much as 94 percent. The open question is whether these drugs also lower people’s risk of heart attacks and strokes. If they do, the FDA will need to approve these drugs before they are available.
Drugs that treat people with high Lp(a) levels could be available in the US in the next two years. But, unlike in Europe, testing for everyone is not the norm in the US. In the US, testing is usually done for people with heart disease.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- What is a silent heart attack?
- Advil and Aleve increase risk of stroke and heart attack
- Live longer after a heart attack, choose your hospital carefully
- Heart health and cardiovascular care
- Reduce your risk of heart disease. Exercise!
