HEALTH REPORT - Test Warns of Heart Attack Risk

HEALTH REPORT – December 4, 2002: Test Warns of Heart Attack Risk

By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Since the nineteen-fifties, American doctors have tested their patients’ blood for cholesterol¹. High levels of this
fatty substance help warn of a possible heart attack or stroke. Now a new study says a rarely performed test for a
protein in the blood might do this better. The study showed that women with high levels of C-reactive protein
were two times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as women with high cholesterol levels.

The study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers studied almost twenty-eight-thousand
healthy women for eight years. The women were forty-five years old or older. Paul Ridker of Brigham and
Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts led the research.

One group of women in the study had higher than normal levels of C-reactive protein. These same women had
below average levels of low density² lipoprotein or L-D-L. This is often called “bad”
cholesterol. These women
were considered at low risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Another group had the opposite conditions. They had low levels of C-reactive protein and high levels of L-D-L.
Over time, the women with high C-reactive protein and low L-D-L suffered more heart attacks and strokes. This
led researchers to believe that people with good cholesterol levels may have a false feeling of security about their
health. About half of the people with heart disease have normal cholesterol levels.

Doctors test for cholesterol because it sticks to blood passages called arteries³. In time, the substance can block
arteries and reduce the flow of blood to the heart or brain. This can kill brain or heart cells.

The rarely used test measures the levels of C-reactive protein made by the body when arteries are inflamed⁴.
Inflammation is a reaction to infection, injury or other causes. Many doctors suspect that continued inflammation
helps cause artery⁵ disease, heart attacks and strokes.

Millions of Americans who have normal cholesterol levels also have high C-reactive protein. Doctor Ridker said
the C-reactive protein test could warn these people of possible trouble. They could then exercise, lose weight or
take drugs called statins. Doctors advise these same measures to treat high cholesterol levels.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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1 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

2 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

3 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 inflamed   

adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His comments have inflamed teachers all over the country. 他的评论激怒了全国教师。
• Her joints are severely inflamed. 她的关节严重发炎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。