The importance of cardiovascular risk markers arises from the fact that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and that traditional lipid screening protocols often fail to identify high-risk patients. A recent prospective study of nearly 28,000 healthy middle-aged women showed that 77% of cardiovascular events occurred in those with LDL-C values below 160 mg/dL while 46% occurred in those with levels below 130 mg/dL. By using other or additional cardiovascular risk markers we can detect and treat those at risk earlier.
