Now you see it, now you don't

A few days we read how useful the C-reactive protein test was going to be in advising about potential heart disease. Now, from Dartmouth Medical School researchers question the usefulness of the C-Reactive Protein (CRP) test for guiding decisions about the use of cholesterol-lowering medication, saying the test identifies too many at low risk. Has test got too many false positives? According to co-author Dr. Lisa Schwartz, also associate professor of medicine and community and family medicine, "A general population use of the test would identify millions of low-risk people, and we don't know if exposing them to cholesterol medications will do more good than harm. Plus, focusing on low-risk people seems misplaced since over half of high-risk people, who we know are helped by treatment, remain untreated."