By Ron Shinkman, Editor, Laboratory Industry Report
A new study by the Cleveland HeartLab and the personalized medicine firm MDVIP concluded that the former’s cardiac inflammation assay could significantly reduce the occurrence of heart attacks and strokes.
Altogether, the use of Cleveland HeartLab’s inflammation test cut the risk of heart attack and strokes by 10 percent among a patient population that also received wellness services from MDVIP, in particular regular testing of their blood cholesterol levels. Although that test has long been considered an indicator for cardiovascular disease, it does not provide any information on cardiac inflammation suffered by the patient. The Cleveland HeartLab assay focuses on levels of the enzymes myeloperoxidase and Lp-Pla2 and the protein hs-CRP, all of which are markers for inflammation.
The study concluded that use of the test to detect inflammation led to $187.7 million in cost savings over five years, or $3.13 per member per month for an average commercial payer compared to the current standard of care. The peer-reviewed findings were published in the Journal of Medical Economics.
"This study shows that by more accurately measuring cardiovascular disease risk with tools that detect arterial inflammation, we can decrease the overall number of heart attacks and strokes, allowing clinicians and health plans to deploy resources more strategically in order to better manage patient outcomes and costs," said Marc Penn, M.D., Cleveland HeartLab’s chief medical officer in a statement. "Even small reductions in heart attacks and strokes lead to enormous cost savings because these events are so traumatic and so costly to treat.”