A new report informs that your heart may be olden than you are. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that three (3) out of four (4) American adults are estimated to have a heart age that’s older than their chronological age.
What this means is that three (3) quarters of Americans are that much more vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes.
The CDC researchers calculated heart age by looking at the subjects’ chronological age, body mass index (BDI), and at several well known risk factors for heart attacks and strokes (high blood pressure levels, diabetes status and smoking status).
For the study, the research team gathered data from all 50 states as well as data from the Farmingdale Heart Study. After studying all of this information, the team concluded that almost 69 million adults living in the United States have a heart age that’s older than their chronological age. The subjects were all aged between 30 and 74.
Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC Director, gave a statement saying that “Too many U.S. adults have a heart age years older than their real age, increasing their risk of heart disease and stroke”. He went on to add that “Everybody deserves to be young – or at least not old – at heart”.
There were noticeable differences between male subjects and female subjects. It turns out that half of adult men have a heart age that’s at least five (5) times older than their chronological age, whereas only two (2) in five (5) adult women have a heart age that’s at least five (5) times older than their chronological age.
On average, the heart age of adult men was eight (8) years older than their chronological age, whereas the average heart age of adult women was only five (5) years older than their chronological age.
All ethnic and racial groups showed the same results, however African Americans had the highest rate of old heart age.
On the geographical front, the oldest heart ages were generally from the South. Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama had the highest number of adults with a heart age that was at least five (5) years older than their chronological age.
As for the opposite end of the equation, Utah, Conversely, Colorado, California, Massachusetts and Hawaii had the lowest number of adults with a heart age that was at least five (5) years older than their chronological age.
Good news is that the CDC researcher informed that people are not powerless in this situation. They can take several steps to lower their heart age and reduce their risk of experiencing heart attacks and strokes. One person you can always turn to for advice is your doctor.
Health professionals can help people adopt better diets and work on improving their high blood pressure levels and / or their smoking status.
Ph.D. Barbara A. Bowman, CDC director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, gave a statement of her own informing that many American adults miss out on opportunities to prevent a future heart attack or stroke because they “don’t understand their cardiovascular disease risk”. But consulting a health professional should help them detect any issues that they might have.
The findings were published earlier this week, on Tuesday (September 1, 2015), by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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