A protein molecule now under study may be able to give patients as much as a decade’s advance warning of potential heart disease. A study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that high levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the blood may be a better indicator of heart disease risk than such traditionally recognized factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

In an eight-year study involving nearly 3,500 patients, researchers found that the quarter of the population showing the highest levels of MPO were 49 percent more likely to develop heart disease than the quarter of the population showing the least MPO. The protein, secreted by white blood cells and linked to inflammation in the body, releases a substance that damages the heart and blood vessels.

The first commercially available test for MPO, approved by the government a year ago, is intended for narrowly defined uses—emergency room cases or for people with a history of chest pain, for instance. It may eventually become a common screening test.

Learn about other heart disease blood tests

SCHEDULE A SCREENING