Read any article on cardiovascular disease prevention, and you’ll
learn that the major risk factors are age, sex, race, smoking, high blood
pressure, high blood lipid levels, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and a
sedentary lifestyle.
But have you ever wondered if each risk factor influences risk to the same
degree? The answer is no. All cardiovascular disease risk factors aren’t
created equal.
Cardiovascular disease risk grows with age
Smoking, high blood pressure, high blood lipid levels, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are
known as modifiable risk factors. Their impact on the heart can be reduced by
making certain lifestyle adjustments or taking specific medications.
Age, sex and race are known as non modifiable risk factors. They
can’t be changed. Of the three, aging has the biggest impact on cardiovascular
disease risk. Your risk of suffering a cardiac event increases as you age.
What this means for you
If you have
multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors when you are younger, they are
more powerful at predicting you’ll have a cardiovascular event than if you
develop them when you are older.
“Having high
SBP will increase your risk as you age, but not to the same degree as SBP in
someone much younger,” says Dr. Laffin. This does not downplay the importance
of major risk factors at any age.
“All risk
factors for cardiovascular disease are important. If you have any of them, they
are definitely going to increase your risk,” he says. Because you can’t roll
back your age, you would be wise to do everything you can to lower your
cardiovascular disease risk as you grow older.
This means:
Eating a heart-healthy diet.
Controlling your weight.
Maintaining normal blood pressure.
Optimizing blood sugar levels.
Making sure your cholesterol levels are in the normal range.
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