双语：出生时只需40英镑做检测 便可筛查出心脏病风险
A simple 40pounds test could tell from birth who is most likely to developheart disease - and see statins offered at an ever younger age.
只需花40英镑(约合52美元)做一项检测，就可以在出生时测出是否有可能患心脏病，从而尽早就开始服用药物。
Research found the one-off gene test was able to identify those at greatest
risk of going on to suffer the condition which leads to heart attacks and
strokes.
研究称，这项一次性基因检测能够识别出谁未来最有可能罹患导致心脏病和中风。
Experts said the tests were cheap enough to allow population-wide screening
of children.
专家表示，这种检测价格低廉，完全可以对所有儿童展开筛查。
Those who scored worst could be monitored, and offered statins as a
teenager, if lifestyle improvements were not enough to cut their risk, they
said.
他们说，得分最高的人会被跟踪观察，如果生活方式的改善不足以降低风险，就让他们在青少年时期开始服用他汀类药物。
The study involving Cambridge University tested a scoring system called the
Genomic Risk Score (GRS) on the DNA from nearly half a million people aged 40 to
69 years, including more than 22,000 with heart disease.
这项研究使用名为“基因组风险评分”(GRS)的评估系统检测了约50万名40岁到69岁人的DNA，其中逾2.2万人患有心脏病。剑桥大学参与了该研究。
The study found those with scores in the top 20 per cent were four times as
likely to develop the disease as those with scores in the bottom 20 per
cent.
研究发现，得分排在前20%的人罹患心脏病的几率是得分最低20%的人的四倍。
The test was better at predicting a person’s risk of developing heart
disease than any single classic indicator - such as high cholesterol or blood
pressure.
在预测一个人患心脏病的风险方面，这项检测比任何一项典型指标——如高胆固醇或高血压——都更准确。
Senior author Sir Nilesh Samani, Professor of Cardiology at the University
of Leicester and medical director of the British Heart Foundation charity, said:
"At the moment we assess people for their risk of coronary heart disease in
their 40s through NHS health checks.
研究第一作者、英国莱斯特大学心脏病学教授兼英国心脏基金会医学主任奈尔什·萨马尼博士说：“目前我们是通过国民保健署的体检评估40多岁的人患冠心病的风险。”
But we know this is imprecise and also that coronary heart disease starts
much earlier, several decades before symptoms develop.
但我们知道这不精确，而且冠心病开始得更早，比出现症状要早几十年。
"Therefore, if we are going to do true prevention, we need to identify
those at increased risk much earlier.”
“因此，我们若要真正做到预防，就必须更早地识别出风险较高的人群。”
He said he hoped to see routine use of the tests by the NHS recommended
within a decade, with screening carried out on children and statins offered to
teenagers and those in their 20s, if lifestyle improvements were not enough to
cut their risk.
他说，如果生活方式的改善还不足以降低他们的风险，他希望看到英国国民保健署在10年内将这项测试纳入常规使用，对儿童开始筛查，并对少年和20多岁的年轻人使用他汀类药物。
“If you wait until people are in their 40s or 50s you are wasting an
opportunity; it is much better to be able to take action in your teens or early
20s.”
“如果等到四五十岁时再检查，可能就错失了良机，最好在少年时期或者20出头时就检查。”
Prof Samani cautioned against sharing such information with young
children.
萨马尼博士警告说，不要把这些信息告诉孩子们。
“I’m not sure I would want to see a five year old being told they were at
greater risk,” he said.
他说，“我不希望看到一个年仅5岁的孩子被告知他有很大的健康风险”。
Currently, heart health is normally assessed during a midlife MOT check by
GPs, which usually tests cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
按照目前的惯例，心脏健康状况的评估方式是在中年由全科医生进行MOT检查，通常检测胆固醇水平和血压。
But this method is imprecise, age-dependent, and misses a large proportion
of individuals who appear "healthy" but still develop the disease, the
researchers claim.
但研究人员称，这种方法不精确，到了一定年龄才查，而且忽略了很大一部分看似“健康”却仍可能患病的人。
Because DNA sequences are generally fixed from birth, the test could be
used at any age.
由于DNA序列一般从出生起就固定下来，所以这项检测对任何年龄都适用。
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