Major Independent Study Underscores Utility of deCODE MI(TM) for Better Predicting Risk of Heart Attack, Informing Stat...( REYKJAVIK Iceland Nov. 11 /- In a...)

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a presentation today at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2008, clinicians and researchers from Baylor College of Medicine have presented data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, demonstrating that measuring the genetic risk factor on chromosome 9p21 detected by the deCODE MI(TM) test complements traditional risk factors to improve the assessment of individual risk of future coronary heart disease (CHD). This information can be used to more accurately assess target cholesterol levels and to inform lipid-modifying therapy recommendations.

Last year, deCODE discovered single-letter variations in the human genome (SNPs) on chromosome 9p21 that increase risk of heart attack, and launched its deCODE MI(TM) reference laboratory test to enable clinicians to measure this risk factor as part of their efforts to provide the best preventive strategies for their patients. In the study today, the Baylor team and colleagues from other academic institutions analyzed the clinical utility of testing for the 9p21 risk factor by adding it to a range of standard CHD risk factors followed by ARIC, a major, NIH-funded prospective study of cardiovascular disease and care begun in 1987. Through an analysis of more than 10,000 ARIC participants of European descent for whom 9p21 status was known, the study found that knowing the 9p21 risk made the assessment of individual risk more accurate and resulted in the reclassification from one risk category to another of a significant proportion of the overall cohort. The impact was most pronounced in the categories of intermediate risk, in which individuals were estimated to be at a 5-10% risk of CHD in the next ten years, and intermediate-high, with individuals at an estimated 10 -20% 10-year CHD risk. In these categories, 19% and 17% of people, respectively, were shifted to a different risk category as a result of integrating their 9p21
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