Heart disease is considered to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Wallstreetpit.com reports that 635,000 Americans experience a heart attack annually. This increases the concern over cardiovascular health as those who survive still have a remaining 40% chance of experiencing it again.
In order to understand heart disease, think about impaired circulation in your blood vessels. There's restriction in the flow and because blood isn't circulating properly, this may lead to conditions like chest pain and even stroke.
It appears that in the new study, lowering cholesterol may not be a sole guarantee in order to prevent Heart Attacks.
That's why researchers focused more on blocking inflammation as a preventive strategy.
The research was released in The New England Journal of Medicine and it was about the drug, Canakinumab. This is used for the treatment of inflammatory conditions. It's been tested on patients and the results were promising. The incidence of these diseases decreased by 15% and the need for undergoing invasive procedures declined by 30% as well.
A remarkable study
The research was known as CANTOS (canakinumab Anti-inflammatory Thrombosis Outcomes Study). It involved a total of 10,000 patients within the six year trial. The participants chosen were given the following criteria: they had experienced heart attacks and had high C-reactive protein (CRP is a blood test indicator for inflammation).
There were two groups in the study. The first half received a high dose of statins while the canakinumab was administered through injection every three months. The second half was on statins and placebo.
The results of CANTOS
After one year, those who were on statin-placebo showed a 4.5% risk of secondary cardiovascular event.
Those who were on average dose of statin-canakinumab only had a 3.86% risk. The results suggest that the participants were 15% less likely to experience stroke.
Though this was considered as an average result, what's really remarkable is that there was at least a 30% decline in participants (the ones who took canakinumab) to undergo invasive procedures like stents or bypass surgeries.
The researchers were quite hopeful because of the results. This paves way for the possible treatment of heart diseases through blocking inflammation.
Ridker, a researcher in the study, states that targeting inflammation may be a new method to treat patients especially those who are identified as high-risk.
