US Food and Drug on Monday approved the new blood test that they believe can be helpful in detecting person’s risk of future heart condition and heart attack.

The test called PLAC Test for Lp-PLA2 is exclusive as it is designed for people with no history of heart disease and the studies have shown that the test is more accurate in predicting Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) risk in women specially Black women.

Alberto Gutierrez, the director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radio-logical Health at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radio-logical Health explained “A cardiac test that helps better predict future coronary heart disease risk in women, and especially black women, may help health care professionals identify these patients before they experience a serious [heart disease] event, like a heart attack,”

The test measures the exercise of Lp-PLA2 (lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2) – an enzyme that indicate vascular inflammation. Vascular inflammation is a harbinger of plaque accumulation in the arteries which can clog them resulting CDH.

The FDA elucidated “Patients with test results that show Lp-PLA2 activity greater than the level of 225 nano-moles per minute per milliliter are at increased risk for a [heart disease] event.”

The FDA’s approval is a result of a previous study made by U.S. National Institutes of Health in which NIH tracked 4,600 people of age between 45 and 92 for five years.

According to CDC, heart disease is amid the highest mortality rates in North America. ”Almost half of men and two-third of women die suffering from CHD with no previous symptoms.”