Chong JJH, et al. – Given the probability of atherosclerosis and plaque instability promotion with neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) or lipocalin 2 leading to increased risk of cardiac events, researchers assessed the links between plasma NGAL, cardiovascular disease biomarkers, and long-term cardiac events. For this purpose, they evaluated 1,131 ambulant older white women (mean age of 75 years) without clinical coronary heart disease (CHD) and measured plasma NGAL in the Perth Longitudinal Study of Ageing Women, with 14.5-year CHD and heart failure hospitalizations or death (events) captured using linked records. They noted increased risk of long-term CHD events in association with NGAL, independent of conventional risk factors and biomarkers. Findings thereby provided mechanistic insight into the role of NGAL with cardiac events.