Swedish researchers have developed a questionnaire that detects the risk of heart attack. The accuracy is as high as with blood tests and blood pressure measurements, a study shows.
The test consists of 14 questions and takes between five and eight minutes to answer. The questions concern, among other things, waist circumference, smoking, high blood pressure, and whether there is a history of cardiovascular disease in the family.
According to the study, the home test, by combining information from the answers in a special algorithm, can detect 65 percent of individuals at highest risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
"The results show that our home test has the same accuracy as a clinical examination with blood tests and blood pressure measurements. If we can make the test widely available in healthcare, it can save both lives and suffering, as it can help us identify those who are at high risk of heart attack or who are currently undertreated," says Göran Bergström, professor of medicine at the University of Gothenburg, in a press release.
The study is based on data from 25,000 people aged 50-64 who are part of the population study SCAPIS. It is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
