The present invention provides methods and markers for characterizing a subject's, particularly a human subject risk of having cardiovascular
disease. The present invention also provides methods of characterizing a subject's risk of developing cardiovascular
disease. In another embodiment, the present invention provides methods for characterizing a subject's risk of experiencing a complication of cardiovascular
disease or major adverse cardiac event within 1, 3, or 10 years. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method for determining whether a subject presenting with
chest pain is at risk near term of experiencing a heart
attack or other major adverse cardiac event. The present methods are especially useful for identifying those subjects who are in need of highly aggressive CVD therapies as well as those subjects who require no therapies targeted at inhibiting or preventing CVD or complications of CVD.