In March, the American Heart Association (AHA), along with other leading medical associations, issued updated guidelines focused on early intervention and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease.

The updates looked at how patients can better manage dyslipidemia, or abnormal levels of one or more types of lipids or lipoproteins in the blood, including cholesterol and triglycerides. In doing so, the AHA is recommending two advanced cardiometabolic blood tests that have never been recommended before: ApoB and Lp(a).

Elevated concentrations of Lp(a), a genetic marker affecting 20% of the population, are associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease. The new guidelines recommend everyone have Lp(a) measured at least once in their lifetime. ApoB testing, which helps identify size of particles which influence risk, can aid in assessing risk for cardiovascular disease and guide decisions on lipid-lowering therapy. The guidelines recommend this testing as a “reasonable” step for assessing patients with risk factors for cardiometabolic disease, including diabetes and kidney disease.

These additions are huge strides towards helping more individuals understand their risk of cardiometabolic disease sooner and illuminating every person’s path to better health with innovative, affordable, actionable insights. But the recommendations left out one very important consideration: a patient’s insulin resistance score.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a condition where an individual’s cells don't respond well to insulin, prompting the pancreas to produce more insulin to compensate, leading to elevated insulin levels in the blood. Insulin resistance often precedes prediabetes and diabetes, though a growing body of evidence suggests IR scores provide insights into health risks that transcend diabetes risk and can affect a range of metabolic disorders.

Insulin resistance is widely prevalent – one analysis of 6,000 young adults found 40% have insulin resistance – but is not tested as much as mainstream laboratory tests.

“Research shows that insulin resistance testing has the potential to be an indicator of future cardiometabolic complications,” said Marc Penn, MD, medical director of cardiometabolic, endocrine and wellness at Quest Diagnostics. “With markers like IR, ApoB and Lp(a), we have the ability to make cardiometabolic testing simpler and smarter – so, when thinking about which tests can help an individual understand their risk and get to an early intervention sooner, they should all be part of the conversation.”

Individuals interested in learning more about insulin resistance should talk to their doctor, or can visit questhealth.com to purchase a test.