Biomarkers: Population Screening and Risk-Stratification

Biomarkers are increasingly considered as instruments for population screening and cardiovascular risk stratification. In addition to meeting key requirements that apply to all biomarkers, screening biomarkers should be able to identify—in a large sample screened—those individuals who are currently free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but who are at high risk of developing CVD in the future. Ideally, screening biomarkers capture the disease process at an early stage, for example, by detecting subclinical changes that predispose to clinically overt CVD. In order to improve risk stratification beyond established risk factors, novel biomarkers should improve the estimation of absolute disease risks and the reclassification of individuals in more appropriate risk categories.