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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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You Can Still Get Heart Disease Even If You Are Healthy! People, who have risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure, are more likely to develop heart disease. But it seems that middle-age adults who are healthy and apparently have a healthy heart might well be victims of heart disease later in life, too. Researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago reported on November 7, 2012 in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ that the overall lifetime risk in men and women for cardiovascular disease (CVD) exceeded 55 percent, and the risk was more than 30 percent for those who had optimal risk factor profile (normal blood pressure and cholesterol, did not smoke and did not have diabetes). According to researchers, there was no published data on the lifetime risk for total CVD (including coronary heart disease, atherosclerotic and hemorrhagic stroke, congestive heart failure, and other cardiovascular disease death). They argued that the purpose of getting estimates of lifetime risk for total CVD might provide projections of the future population burden of cardiovascular disease and might help in doctor-patient risk communication. In order to calculate the lifetime risk estimates of total CVD and estimate years lived free of CVD, researchers analyzed data from 5 population studies (Framingham Heart Study, Framingham Offspring Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry Study, and Cardiovascular Health Study).
Being sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, all the 5 studies were conducted between 1964 and 2008. All participants were free of CVD at the start of the study but with risk factor data (blood pressure, total cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking status) and total outcome data. Across all index ages (45,55, 65, 75), 1.7 to 7.9 percent of participants were of optimal risk factor profile, as defined by having blood pressure (BP) less than 120/80 mm Hg, total cholesterol (TC) level less than 180 mg/dL and no smoking or diabetes. In contrast, more than 55 percent of the participants at any age had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease: blood pressure less than 160/100 mm Hg or receiving treatment; total cholesterol level less than 240 mg/dL or receiving treatment; diabetes; and/or current smoking. Analysis showed that at an index age of 45 years, overall lifetime risk estimates for total CVD through the age of 95 years were 60.3 percent for men, and 55.6 percent for women. It appeared that women had significantly lower lifetime risk estimates than men across all index ages. At index ages 55 and 65 years, men and women with at least 1 elevated risk factor (BP, 140-149/90-99 mm Hg; or TC, 200-239 mg/dL; but no diabetes or smoking), 1 major risk factor, or at least 2 major risk factors (BP, ≥160/100 mm Hg or receiving treatment; TC, ≥240 mg/dL or receiving treatment; diabetes; or current smoking) had lifetime risk estimates to age 95 years that exceeded 50 percent. While men and women with optimal risk factor profile at index age of 55 years had lifetime risks (through 85 years of age) for total CVD of higher than 40 and 30 percent respectively, these people lived up to 14 years longer free from total CVD than those with at least 2 risk factors. Another important finding of the study was that lifetime risks for total CVD were high regardless of index age. This implies that achieving older age free of total CVD does not guarantee escape from remaining lifetime risk for total CVD. Every year, more American women die from cardiovascular disease than any other condition or disease, as shown in the report issued in July 2011 by Women Heart. Nearly 50 percent of women die from heart disease or stroke, compared to 4 percent from breast cancer. Over 420,000 women in the United States die from some type of cardiovascular disease annually.
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