Hannover Life Re (UK) has highlighted the impact a protein called Troponin could have with regard to...
Hannover Life Re (UK) has highlighted the impact a protein called Troponin could have with regard to critical illness.
The protein is attracting attention in the reinsurance world because it has the potential to be used in the diagnosis of heart attacks and in the prognostic assessments of ischaemic heart disease.
Julie Hopkins, chief underwriter at Hannover Life Re (UK), said: "At the moment Troponin is not used as a screening tool in its own right, but alongside the other diagnostic tests used in the standard definition for heart attack in critical illness."
However, she added that the protein can provide a more specific assessment for death of any part of the cardiac muscle and increased use of the chemical could therefore lead to an increase in diagnosis.
She said that many people have heart attacks but are not aware that they have occurred and that one cardiologist has suggested it could increase the apparent incidence rate by between 5% and 10%.
Hopkins added: "We may have to see a change in pricing if more people are diagnosed as having suffered the death of a portion of their heart muscle.
"Conversely, there could also be an increase in people who are diagnosed as not actually having a heart attack."
She also warned that insurers must develop an understanding of the implications of new medical developments for critical illness products.
"This is a clear indication of the industry's need to understand future treatments or diagnostic and screening regimes and how they may impact on disease and the incidence of disease.
"Disability products are living products, so as new diseases are found and treatments established, products will have to be reviewed," she said.
This will mean monitoring the illnesses covered and their definitions if insurers are to remain competitive.
Likewise, they will have to study the emergence of any new conditions that may warrant coverage.
