February 2025
Discoveries, trends, and discussions in medical diagnostics
Welcome to the February issue of Diagnostics Dialogue, where you can get up to speed on the most important discoveries, trends, and discussions in medical diagnostics. Continue reading to learn more.
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February is American Heart Month |
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February is American Heart Month |
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February is American Heart Month |
February is American Heart Month |
Let’s elevate awareness of heart-related health conditions
February is American Heart Month, a time to pay special attention to understanding, preventing, and treating heart disease—the leading cause of death in the US.1 Quest Diagnostics is joining leading health organizations in raising awareness about the importance of identifying and managing heart-related health conditions, including a heightened focus on the overlapping effects of obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and cardiovascular disease.
We offer comprehensive screening solutions, including a Metabolic Risk Panel and Kidney Profile. |
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Our solutions can help you assess your patient’s risk in early stages, when identification is critical to help reverse or prevent serious illness. Read the articles below for more information.
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Better outcomes |
Better outcomes |
Assess cardiometabolic risk to help improve patient outcomes
Patient risk continues to climb for a growing number of cardiometabolic diseases.2
Among US adults:
Many patients are unaware of their own risk, which means they are unlikely to take the actions needed to prevent disease progression. Quest can help simplify cardiometabolic risk assessment and provide a clear path for earlier risk identification.
The Metabolic Risk Panel offers data for deeper insight into the metabolic state of your patients than any one test alone.
For example:
- Coupling HbA1c with the Insulin Resistance Panel can help identify risk for future metabolic conditions or diabetes at their earliest stages, potentially before permanent damage has occurred
- Measuring ApoB with triglycerides can help you assess changes in lipid metabolism that are associated with early stages of metabolic dysfunction
- LDL-C and non-HDL-C measurements can be used with ApoB to identify lipid discordance
Count on guideline-based CKD testing for earlier diagnosis
Approximately 40M adults in the US have CKD,5 and most aren’t aware of their condition.
For a complete picture of your patient’s kidney health, guidelines recommend both the traditional serum creatinine (eGFR) blood test and the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) test to assess both kidney function and damage.6
Quest offers a Kidney Profile consisting of these 2 guideline-based tests with a single test code to help diagnose CKD, manage disease progression, establish follow-up testing frequency, and assess when referral to a nephrologist is recommended.
Listen to our podcast: The results are in on Alzheimer’s risk assessment
BBiomarkers are revolutionizing early risk detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, offering primary care physicians a proactive tool to identify Alzheimer’s before cognitive symptoms appear.
In this podcast episode of Results are In by Quest Diagnostics, Dr Michael Racke, Medical Director for Neurology at Quest Diagnostics, discusses the role of blood-based biomarkers in early Alzheimer’s risk assessment and the impact of proactive diagnosis on patient care.
From the evolution of Alzheimer's diagnostics to the practical application of plasma-based tests, Dr Racke explains how integrating these tests into routine health visits can enable earlier interventions and better patient outcomes.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of Alzheimer’s diagnostics and the power of early detection in cognitive health.
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Better experiences |
Better experiences |
Target the right allergens to help protect patients
Allergies affect millions of adults and children in the US.
Allergy testing can help your patient know what exposures to avoid and what exposures are safe. Solutions like ImmunoCAP™ IgE reflex panels test for the most common environmental and food allergens and automatically reflexing to available component testing to simplify your approach to allergy care.
ImmunoCAP food allergen component testing measures specific IgE to provide an objective assessment of your patient’s sensitization to specific proteins and the risk of an allergic reaction to peanuts, tree nuts (Brazil nut, hazelnut, walnut, cashew), egg white, and cow’s milk.
While whole allergen testing for dog and cat dander is a valuable screening tool, identifying specific IgE antibodies to component proteins can provide information that helps assess the risk, potential severity, and type of allergic response to dog and/or cat dander.
Achieving the Quadruple Aim in your practice
Our purpose is to support you and your patients with leading services, patient experiences, and innovative testing that can help you provide clarity to the constant changes and challenges we’re seeing in healthcare today.
About Diagnostics Dialogue
In our conversations with providers across the country, we hear that you are facing many different constraints that make delivering care challenging. We’re here to help you navigate the uncertainty and deliver better health. With a broad test menu spanning 3,500+ tests and consultations from our medical staff of over 700 MDs and PhDs, we empower healthcare providers to create healthier communities, one patient at a time.
References
- CDC. Heart disease. December 30, 2024. Accessed January 2, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/php/heart-month/index.html
- Singh A, Bruemmer D. Cardiometabolic risk: Shifting the paradigm toward comprehensive assessment. JACC Adv. 2024;3(4). doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2024.100867
- Liang X, Or B, Tsoi MF, et al. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-18. Postgrad Med J. 2023;99(1175):985-992. doi:10.1093/postmj/qgad008
- CDC. A report card: Diabetes in the United States Infographic. Updated May 15, 2024. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/communication-resources/diabetes-statistics.html
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Kidney disease statistics for the United States. Updated May 2023. Accessed May 28, 2024. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/kidney-disease
- Kidney disease: Improving global outcomes (KDIGO) CKD work group. KDIGO 2024 clinical practice guideline for the evaluation and management of chronic kidney disease. Kidney Int. 2024;105 (Suppl 4S): S117-S314. doi:10.1016/j.kint.2023.10.1018
- CDC National Center for Health Statistics. Allergy and hay fever. Updated March 1, 2021. Accessed September 6, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/allergies.htm
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