New hope on heart disease as science offers early detection and prevention

Programme that monitored thousands of women leads to findings that could lead to better health outcomes for decades to come

Scientists say they are moving towards earlier indentification and prevention of heart disease. The development is the result of a programme that monitored thousands of women for three decades while assessing their susceptibilities to cardiac illness.

The scientists presented the work as late-breaking research at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in London and published it in the New England Journal of Medicine. We hope these findings move the field closer to identifying even earlier ways to detect and prevent heart disease," said Paul Ridker, study author and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.