Heart disease prevention in the United States is working

One of the largest and longest-running studies on heart health shows how powerful cardiovascular disease prevention methods are.

People participating in flamingham heart research designed to help identify the major risk factors for heart disease and their effects on the heart live longer, develop heart attacks and strokes, and are coronary. The risk of dying from heart disease is reduced, with each new analysis.

Analysis published in the journal CirculationWe examined data from more than 24,000 people participating in an ongoing study initiated in 1948. Researchers have specifically investigated the lifetime risk of someone from the age of 45 due to a heart attack, stroke, or death from coronary heart disease for three periods. : 1960–1979, 1980–1999, and 2000–2018.

Researchers have found that overall life expectancy increased by 10.1 years for men and 11.9 years for women over three periods. The remaining lifetime risk of developing heart disease decreased from 36.3% to 26.5% in women and from 52.5% to 30.1% in men between 1960-1979 and 2000-2018.

For study participants who experienced cardiovascular events, they occurred later in both men and women. Specifically, from 2000 to 2019, the average age of first cardiovascular events was 8.1 years for men and 10.3 years for women when compared to the 1960-1979 group.

These findings underscore the importance of “continuous and effective primary preventive efforts with risk factors and better screening for their effective treatment,” the researchers wrote.

How to prevent heart disease

Although this study does not elaborate on which heart disease prevention methods are most effective, the American Heart Association (AHA) generally does the following to reduce the risk of developing heart disease: It is recommended.

• Eat a healthy diet.. Focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, plant-based proteins, lean animal proteins, and fish. Limits refined carbohydrates, processed meats, sweetened beverages, sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats.
• Be physically active.. Aim to do moderate intensity aerobic exercise for at least 150 minutes a week, or strenuous exercise for 75 minutes.
• Manage your weight.. Maintain a healthy weight. Also, if you are overweight or obese, work with your healthcare provider to help you lose weight.
• Do not smoke.. Avoid using tobacco products. If you do not smoke, smoke, or use tobacco products, do not start.
• Manage existing conditions.. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and diabetes increase the risk of heart disease. Keep them under control to help lower your risk.
• take medicine.. Take your medication as prescribed by your healthcare provider to reduce your overall risk of heart disease.

I still have something to do

The results of this study are “very interesting”, but they have their limits. Jennifer Hayes, MD, An associate professor of medicine at the Colombian Women’s Heart Center and director of the Cardiac Obstetrics Program told Berrywell.

“The biggest limitation of this study is that it doesn’t accurately represent the ethnic and racial composition of the United States, mainly because it reflects a white cohort,” she said.

It also focuses on people living in the northeastern United States. This “may not represent that of the whole country or of other countries.” Paul Natterson, MDA cardiologist at the Providence St. John’s Health Center in California told Berrywell.

But Jennifer Wong, MD, Cardiologists and non-invasive cardiologists at the Memorial Care Heart and Vascular Institute in California’s Orange Coast Medical Center told Verywell that the findings were “not surprising,” and what many doctors see. It reflects.

“We have been good at promoting preventative measures in recent years and there are improved treatments for primary and secondary prevention,” she said. “Statins [which lower cholesterol] Initially available in the 1980s, it probably made a big difference. We have also been actively working on blood pressure control. ”

“More aggressive interventions” for risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and tobacco use are also likely to be factors, Hayes said.

However, Natterson emphasized that there was still work to be done.

“People continue to experience atherosclerosis and its consequences,” he said. “We are doing a better job of dealing with the major risk factors and behaviors that lead to heart and vascular disease, but we are not completely eliminating heart attacks and strokes, instead I am. We often simply delay our age on the order of 10 years until such an event occurs. ”