A method for diagnosing a condition of a patient involves the steps of (a)
adding one or more reagents to a test sample from a patient, the test
samples comprising at least part of a blood sample from the patient, in
order to cause formation of a complex comprising at least one acute phase
protein and at least one human lipoprotein, while causing substantially
no fiber polymerization; (b) measuring the formation of the complex over
time so as to derive a time-dependent measurement profile, and (c)
determining a slope and/or total change in the time-dependent measurement
profile, so as to diagnose a condition of the patient. A greater
formation of the complex is correlated to increased probability of death
of the patient.