Prognostic biomarkers give intervention-independent information on disease status and outcome prediction. Prognostic biomarkers can signify individuals in the latent period of a diseases natural history, allowing optimal therapy and prevention until the diseases termination. Prognostic biomarkers give information on disease status by measuring the internal precursors that increase or decrease the likelihood of attaining a disease.  For example, blood pressure and cholesterol are biomarkers for CVD. Prognostic biomarkers can be direct or indirect to the causal pathway of a disease.  If a prognostic biomarker is a direct step in the causal pathway, it is one of the factors or products of the disease.  A prognostic biomarker could be indirectly associated with a disease if it is related to a change caused by the exposure, or related to an unknown factor connected with the exposure or disease.