Doctors relied on cholesterol levels to assess heart disease risk for decades.
In 2025, accumulated research led to more screening for C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, as a better predictor of heart attacks and strokes, a professor of family and community medicine explains:
The Conversation
How C-reactive protein outpaced ‘bad’ cholesterol as leading heart disease risk marker
C-reactive protein – a marker of inflammation – is as easily measured with blood work in a doctor’s office as cholesterol.
