His BP, blood sugar and cholesterol were normal: Why did marathon runner have a heart attack? | Health and Wellness News
Written by: Dr Ranjan Shetty 4 min readJun 16, 2026 07:31 AM IST Sometimes a patient can confound us completely. His blood pressure was impeccable: 118/78 mmHg. His blood cholesterol levels were normal. Blood sugar in range. At 44, he was lean, disciplined and a regular at the gym. He ran long distances, never skipped a workout and prided himself on being fanatic about it and being fitter than most men his age. And then he had a heart attack. The question is as unsettling as it is common: How can someone who does everything right suffer a cardiac event? The answer lies in an uncomfortable truth. Medicine understands a great deal about heart disease, but not everything. While 90 per cent of heart attacks are traceable to identifiable risks, 10 per cent tend to be confusing and arise from other reasons entirely. The hidden culprits: Homocysteine and hs-CRP Two markers that have drawn increasing attention are homocysteine and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Homocysteine is an amino acid produced by the body. Elevated levels have …









