A cheap blood test can predict which apparently healthy patients are at high risk of a heart attack. Experts say it could be better than just checking blood pressure and cholesterol to assess heart risk.

　　一项便宜的血液检查可以检测出，表面看起来健康的患者中，有哪些处于心脏病发作的高风险。专家说，这可能比通过检查血压和胆固醇来评估心脏风险的效果更好。

　　So far, they have tested it only on men, but the British Heart Foundation-funded researchers say it should work in women too.

　　到目前为止，他们只测试了男性，但英国心脏基金会资助的研究人员说，女性应该同样适用。

　　The test, called troponin, looks for a protein released when the heart muscle is damaged. Doctors already use the same blood test to help diagnose men and women who they suspect have just had a heart attack.

　　该测试叫做肌钙蛋白测试，其在心肌损伤时寻找释放的蛋白质。医生已经使用相同的血液测试来帮助诊断他们怀疑刚刚患上心脏病的男性和女性。

　　In their study, Prof Nicholas Mills and colleagues found men who had higher levels of troponin in their blood were more likely to have a heart attack or die of heart disease up to 15 years later.

　　在他们的研究中，Nicholas Mills及其同事发现，血液中肌钙蛋白水平较高的男性更可能在15年后心脏病发作或死于心脏病。

　　But putting some of these high-risk men on preventive treatment, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, lowered their risk as well as their troponin levels.

　　但为这些高风险男性进行一些预防性治疗，如称为他汀类药物的降胆固醇药物，降低了他们的风险以及他们的肌钙蛋白水平。

　　The 3,300 men in the study had high cholesterol but no history of heart disease.

　　该研究中的3300名男性患有高胆固醇，但没有心脏病史。

　　The scientists now plan to do more research involving women too.

　　科学家现在计划做更多涉及女性的研究。

　　Prof David Newby, one of the authors of the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said: "Troponin is almost like a barometer of heart health. If it creeps up, that’s bad and your risk of heart problems increases. If it goes down, that’s good.”

　　David Newby教授是《美国心脏病学会杂志》发表的一项研究的作者之一，他说：“肌钙蛋白几乎就像一个心脏健康的晴雨表，如果它升高，就不好了，而且你的心脏问题的风险就会增加。如果它下降，就是好的。”

　　Dr Tim Chico, a cardiologist from Sheffield University, said: "The problem with heart disease is that it remains very difficult to detect the early signs in people without symptoms, so these findings may provide a way to help identify people at risk.”

　　来自谢菲尔德大学的心脏病学家Tim Chico博士说：“心脏病的问题是，没有该症状的人仍然很难检测出早期的体征，因此这些发现可能提供一种方法，帮助识别处于危险中的人。”

　　"Nevertheless, the best way to treat heart disease is to prevent it in the first place, and this is why a healthy diet, regular physical activity, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure is so important."

　　“然而，治疗心脏病的最好方法首先是预防，这就是健康的饮食、定期的身体活动、不吸烟、并且维持健康的体重和血压为何会如此重要。”

（编辑：何莹莹）