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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Each year at the doctor’s office, many adults get their blood pressure taken and cholesterol levels checked. Doctors make sure you’re not anemic, have enough vitamin D and that your thyroid is working correctly. But there’s one test that some believe your doctor may be missing—one that could be life-saving for millions of people.

Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, allergies, and COPD all are life-threatening conditions and they are all chronic inflammation diseases.

“Thirty-four percent of people, aged 20 and older, actually have, sort of, chronic inflammation,” said Arch Mainous, PhD, a community health and faamily specialist.

Mainous is studying the impact that chronic inflammation has on the body, but his research focuses specifically on people who live in poverty. The trouble is you wouldn’t know if you had it.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, Mainous found that people with chronic inflammation who also live in poverty had a 127 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 196 percent increased risk of dying from cancer in the next 15 years compared to those who have only one of the risk factors. Mainous hopes this research will be a call to action for new screening guidelines.

“It wouldn’t be any more complicated than a screening test for high cholesterol or a screening test for high glucose for diabetes,” explained Mainous.

A new FDA-approved drug called colchicine now targets inflammation. It specifically reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease caused by inflammation.

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