Blood pressure, cholesterol in young adults linked to risk of heart attack later

If you are in the age group of 40 or less and have high blood pressure and cholesterol then you are at increased risk of heart attack later in life says a recent study. This is in accordance with recent research published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology¹. Published on July 15, 2019, the study proves that a person of age 40 yeard or less having high blood pressure and cholesterol are associated with increased cardiovascular diseases later in life. Let us try to understand the methodology of the research on how scientists came to this conclusion.

Does High BP, cholesterol in young adult increases risk of heart attack later

Researchers already knew that hypertension and cholesterol are major risk factors for heart attack. But the researchers in US were curious to find out how does exposure to high BP & cholesterol during young adulthood affects later life cardiovascular disease risk. They were trying to evaluate the independent associations between young adult exposures to risk factors and later-life CVD risk, accounting for later-life exposures.

For this doctors choose to study and analyse six major community-based research. This cohort study includes:

1. The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study; 2)
2. The CARDIA (Cardiovascular Risk Development in Young Adults) study;
3. The CHS study (Cardiovascular Health Study);
4. The FHS-O cohort (Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort);
5. The Health ABC (Health, Aging and Body Composition) study; and
6. The MESA study (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis).

They pooled the data from these studies and selected candidates with ages more than 18 years, they find not have a history of any heart disease. There were a total of 36,030 participants and researchers tracked them to see who had heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure.

Time-weighted average exposures to each risk factor during young (age 18 to 39 years) and later adulthood (age ≥40 years) were calculated and linked to subsequent risks of coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure (HF), or stroke.

Also read: How to Use Digital BP Machine at Home

Result

The collected data related to heart disease for all 36,030 participants were followed up for 17 years. Out of which 4,570 events were related to coronary heart disease, 5,119 events were of heart failure, and 2,862 had stroke events. Results found that the participants who had high levels of cholesterol before age 40 were 64% more likely to have had events like heart attacks compared to people with low levels in early adulthood.

The normal blood pressure is 120/80 where 120 is systolic BP and 80 is diastolic BP. Younger adults who had high systolic blood pressure, more than 130 mm Hg were 37% more likely to develop heart failure later in life. And young adults who had elevated diastolic blood pressure, i.e more than 80 mm Hg were 21% more likely to develop heart failure later on.

What does it mean to us?

Result clearly indicates how important it is for us to track and maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially during young adulthood. You should be taking care of your diet, and morning walks, and jogging should be a part of your life. Use this online walking/running calorie burn calculator to track how many calories you would burn for a particular distance and speed of walk or jogging.

Sunit. S. Ekka

Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.