GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Every year, millions of adults visit the doctor's office to get their blood pressure taken and their cholesterol levels checked. Doctors make sure their patients are anemic, have enough vitamin D, and have a functioning thyroid. But there's one test doctors may be overlooking — one that could save millions of lives.
Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, allergies and COPD are all life-threatening and chronic inflammatory diseases.
“34% of people over the age of 20 actually have some sort of chronic inflammation,” said Dr. Arch Minus, a community health and family specialist.
Meinous studies the effects of chronic inflammation on the body, with a particular focus on people living in poverty. The problem is, you don't know if you have it.
In the largest study of its kind, Dr. Minus found that people who have chronic inflammation and live in poverty have a 127 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease and a 196 percent higher risk of dying from cancer over the next 15 years compared to people with only one risk factor. Dr. Minus hopes that this research will spur the development of new screening guidelines.
“It's less complicated than a screening test for high cholesterol or a screening test for high blood sugar for diabetes,” Minus explained.
A new FDA-approved drug, colchicine, targets inflammation, specifically reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease caused by inflammation.
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