According to a new study published on Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, before a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular disease hits there are almost always warning signs. Yes, your body gives you signals. Researchers analysed data from two groups: more than 600,000 cases of cardiovascular disease in South Korea and another 1,000 cases in the United States. They analysed what percentage of those cases were preceded by traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood pressure levels, blood sugar, cholesterol and smoking.
According to the data, in more than 99% of cases of cardiovascular disease, heart failure or stroke, the patient had at least one of the risk factors before the incident occurred.Blood type A linked to higher stroke risk: Find out where your blood group standsCan geomagnetic storms affect your blood pressure?What does magnesium deficiency look like in women? Know common symptoms“Even ‘mild’ elevations of these 4 factors should be addressed with lifestyle treatments or medications,” said Dr Philip Greenland, one of the study’s lead authors, in an email to CNN Health.
Image credits: Getty Images
As per Dr Susan Cheng, professor and vice chair of research affairs in the department of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the new study is particularly important because it reinforces that doctors and patients can manage risk factors for almost all cases of heart disease. It is unique because scientists looked at patients’ medical data, rather than their diagnosis and the presence of risk factors.
Poll
Do you believe that managing lifestyle factors can prevent cardiovascular disease?
So, if clinicians and patients want to mitigate heart disease risk, the best course of action is likely to continue encouraging management of risk factors like blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking, said Cheng.In addition to clinical risk factors studied in the research, it is also important to improve your lifestyle risk factors. Maintaining good sleep, exercise, nutrition, a healthy weight and low levels of stress are key to lowering cardiovascular disease risk.
