There are several markers that can indicate whether you have a heart problem. Like many conditions there are symptoms that the patient themselves will pick up on
Heart health is becoming an increasingly pressing issue in the UK – with cardiovascular disease responsible for about quarter of all deaths annually.
This encompasses conditions like coronary heart disease, heart failure and strokes. Patients may notice symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, heart palpitations and wheezing, which can signal heart problems.
Doctors have their own methods to assess cardiovascular risk, including cholesterol checks, blood pressure measurements, and electrocardiograms. Yet, a leading cardiologist has suggested there might be a more effective early detection method.
On YouTube, Doctor Sanjay Gupta shared his insights: “I wanted to talk to you about a very interesting test, which is easily available which can tell us a lot about our future risk of heart disease.
“Cardiovascular disease is the biggest cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world and despite all the advances in medical practice the burden continues to increase.”
He cautioned that many conventional tests might only detect issues after the disease has inflicted harm. “The markers we use to diagnose a condition are late markers or maybe even the wrong markers altogether,” he explained.
Dr Gupta flagged up the risks of using insufficient markers in diagnosing medical conditions, highlighting that if a quarter of patients have complications by the time of diagnosis, we’re not using sophisticated enough tools. He advised: “So if you are using a marker to diagnose a condition because you want to prevent complications but by the time that marker has helped you make the diagnosis a quarter of your patients have already developed the complications of the condition.
“And many of these complications develop over a number of years then clearly we are relying on a very unsophisticated or even a wrong marker to make the diagnosis.” In an eye-opening revelation, Dr Gupta shared insights about using a common kidney test for potential heart issues, reports the Express.
“Today I wanted to talk to you about a really interesting test that we should be using more often but we don’t and this test is called microalbuminuria,” he noted. A microalbuminuria test measures the amount of a protein called albumin is present in your urine and is a way to tell if your kidneys are functioning well.
Continuing, he explained: “Now most cardiovascular diseases are caused by harmful processes occurring within our blood vessels. Any harmful process that is occurring in our bodies is most likely to affect our most tiny, most fragile blood vessels first and if the process remains unchecked then the damage will extend to our bigger blood vessels.”
To catch early signs of vascular ills, Dr Gupta recommended: “So if we want to pick up signs of early vascular disease signs of an early harmful process in our bodies we have to examine our most fragile blood vessels.
“Our kidneys also contain a very dense population of tiny blood vessels. While we can’t directly visualise the blood vessels in the kidneys, we know that they contribute to overall kidney health and if they start getting damaged then the kidneys will start leaking out various substances that would not have leaked out if they were completely healthy.
“One of the substances that is leaked out when the kidneys are malfunctioning is protein or albumin.”
If albumin levels range from 30 to 300 milligrams, this is deemed microalbuminuria. Dr Gupta further explained: “In terms of cardiac disease there have been studies including one which is called the strong heart study which showed that there was a significant association between microalbuminuria and abnormalities of cardiac function.
“In addition, patients who have high blood pressure and have microalbuminuria are likely to have a thicker, stiffer heart. So what this tells us is that microalbuminuria can precede the appearance of hypertension and diabetes and can independently predict cardiovascular risk.”
This advice aligns with a study published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in 2015. The study concluded: “Microalbuminuria is an independent predictor for coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality in the general population.
“Early detection of microalbuminuria in the general population is likely to identify patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality.”
