Measuring levels of an enzyme called myeloperoxidase in the blood may help predict whether apparently healthy individuals are likely to develop coronary artery disease in the future, according to a new report.

Previous reports have shown myeloperoxidase levels to be directly related to the likelihood of serious problems in patients with chest pain or suspected coronary disease, the authors explain in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The focus of the present study was to see if levels of the enzyme could foretell problems for apparently healthy people. To that end, Dr. Matthijs Boekholdt, from the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues compared initial levels of myeloperoxidase in 1138 healthy subjects who developed coronary disease during 8 years of follow-up and 2237 matched "controls" who did not.

People with the highest myeloperoxidase levels had a 36 percent increased risk of coronary disease than those with the lowest levels, the researchers found.

In fact, myeloperoxidase levels were useful in predicting coronary disease even when cholesterol levels were normal.

"It is clear that elevation of inflammatory markers, such as myeloperoxidase ... precede the onset of coronary artery disease by years," the team concludes. This suggests that strategies aimed at lowering inflammation might help ward of heart disease.