Cost-reducing guidelines like the ACC's guidelines concerning cardiac imaging from 2012 require better profiling of what makes patients high risk for cardiovascular disease - especially when they make caveats based on "high-risk markers."

Are all high-risk markers known? What's on the horizon in markers for cardiovascular disease?

We've already discussed two new high-risk markers - a factor known as "stem cell factor" that's as predictive as cholesterol levels and a gene that interacts negatively with estrogen in women.

Here's another recent case of researchers building a better preventative mousetrap - a new test can measure the severity of metabolic syndrome and thus track and predict cardiovascular disease risk over time - from youth.

New Test for Teens Impetus for Early Lifestyle Changes?

Mark Deboer, MD from the University of Virginia Children's Hospital and colleagues developed a new test based on assessment of youth's metabolic syndrome status that indicates risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes later in life.

The researchers assessed body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting triglyceride levels, HDL cholesterol, and fasting glucose levels to create a new metabolic syndrome severity score which can indicate and track risk over time.

This score was highly accurate in predicting which youths would develop heart disease and type 2 diabetes later in life, and researchers "have high hopes that their test could be an effective prevention strategy," writes Medical News Today. Read more.