Patent ID: 7708977

Claim:
A method of diagnosing decreased vascular function in a subject that does not have symptomatic cardiovascular disease, comprising selecting a subject that does not have symptomatic cardiovascular disease; assaying the number of endothelial progenitor cells in a blood sample from the subject; comparing the number of endothelial progenitor cells in the blood sample from the subject with a control, wherein the control is a number of endothelial progenitor cells in a blood sample from a control subject that does not have symptomatic cardiovascular disease and has a low Framingham Risk Score, and identifying a subject with decreased vascular function, wherein a decrease in the number of endothelial progenitor cells in the sample as compared to the control indicates decreased vascular function in the subject, and wherein vascular function is vascular contractility, brachial reactivity or a combination thereof.