[ad_1]
A A heart health survey revealed that this week, four out of five adults in England had a more damaged heart than their age.
England's "cardiac age test", taken by two million people in England, portrays a gloomy picture of the country's health and has drawn attention to the most risk factors According to the NHS, about 80 % of heart attacks and strokes in people under 75 could be prevented.
But one persistent complaint among those who have passed the test has been to receive excessive age scores due to ignorance of their cholesterol or blood pressure values. Those who failed to enter blood pressure (50% of participants) and cholesterol (79%) were given the British average, which for both parameters is outside the range. of security.
"Part of the motivation here is to encourage people to know their numbers," said Matt Kearney, National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Public Health England and NHS England, who conducted the test. "40% of hypertensive people – more than 5 million people in England – are neither diagnosed nor ignored."
According to Kearney, the age test is based on a risk calculator widely used in GP practices to assess the risk of heart disease in a person and to decide whether or not to prescribe drugs that lower blood pressure or cholesterol . The assessment aims to collect as much information about a person's risks as possible.
For example, the test asks for a person's weight, blood pressure and cholesterol – factors that directly affect heart health – but not the number of hours of training, a factor that has a more indirect impact on health. Smoking, one of the most important risks for heart disease, is requested. But the test ignores the consumption of alcohol, which, perhaps surprisingly, has at most a weak effect.
We spoke to five experts about the different ways in which our lifestyles affect heart health.
Diet
Matthew Walters, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow
Diet is an important risk factor for the development of diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes, and dietary factors have been implicated in a significant proportion of deaths from these diseases . High consumption of salt and sugary drinks and low vegetable consumption have been particularly associated with deaths from cardiovascular disease. Although there is a link between unhealthy diet and obesity, an unhealthy diet can cause problems even in non-obese people.
The question of how diet and obesity contribute to poor cardiovascular health is of great interest because obesity is a growing public health problem. Essentially, as more fat develops in the body, there is a series of complicated hormonal changes. The fat cells release a number of hormones called adipokines, which can affect blood sugar, blood pressure and the amount of fat present in the blood. Some inflammatory changes in the blood vessels may also occur, and the combined effect causes progressive hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Exercise
Emily McGrath, Cardiology Nurse, British Heart Foundation, London
More than 20 million people in the UK are physically inactive, according to a report by the British Heart Foundation. The report defines "inactive" as not respecting the government guidelines for physical activity of 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week and strength activities at least two days a week . Evidence shows that staying physically active can reduce the risk of heart and circulatory disease by 35% and the risk of premature death by 30%.
One of the main benefits of exercise for health is that it helps to keep glucose, insulin and cholesterol levels within the limits of normal.
When you exercise, your heart rate increases with physical activity to provide more oxygenated blood to your muscles, and the more you are in shape, the more your heart can work effectively, allowing you to work longer and harder. As your heart is a muscle, the more you are able to do it, the stronger it becomes. As a side effect, this increased efficiency will also reduce your resting heart rate and your blood pressure will decrease as new blood vessels form. Exercise decreases blood pressure, thus reducing the pressure on the heart.
Smoking and drinking
Dr. James Rudd, Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Cambridge
Smoking cigarettes triples the risk of heart attack. And for young people, the impact of smoking is even more striking: among people under 50, smoking carries a risk eight times higher. Smoking is the most important "modifiable" risk factor for a heart attack – which means that the risk can be reduced by stopping smoking. In fact, 10 to 15 years after stopping, the risk of a person returns to that of a non-smoker. The evidence of this connection is extremely strong and not disputed, even by the tobacco companies.
The reason smoking is so dangerous is that it makes the blood more "sticky" and more likely to clog the arteries of the heart. Cigarettes also damage the delicate lining of the arteries and promote inflammation. All of these effects greatly increase the risk of heart attack, caused by the formation of a blood clot in the arteries of the heart.
For alcohol, the evidence is much weaker – it probably has a neutral effect on the risk of heart attack. Admittedly, following government guidelines of 14 units per week does not increase the risk of heart attack per se.
Pollution
Dr. Nay Aung, Cardiologist at Queen Mary University London
Air pollution is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, although knowledge of this association may not be as strong as other risk factors such as hypertension or lack of blood pressure. ;physical activity. According to a well-conducted study, Global Burden of Disease, a component of air pollution known as particulate pollution is one of the top five risk factors for increasing the risk of death. The majority of deaths or injuries are caused by a heart attack and a stroke.
There are now several controlled studies in which volunteers have been exposed to air containing diluted diesel particles. The results showed that even a short-term exposure to air pollutants at a level similar to that observed on a busy road resulted in increased stress for the heart, caused by a reduction in the blood supply and increased risk clot formation. It has been shown that air pollutants increase the response to inflammatory stress in the body, which can trigger a cascade of harmful biological effects, including an increase in plaque formation in the arteries.
Stress
Teacher Andrew Steptoe, Chief of behavioral sciences and health at University College London
There is evidence that various forms of chronic stress contribute to risk, and the same goes for depression and, to a lesser extent, hostility. However, the effects are much more striking in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease than the general population. The best-studied type of stress is work, where the presence of work-related stresses (high demands associated with poor control) is toxic. We estimate that 550 people of middle age should be treated (suppress stress at work) to prevent a five-year cardiac event. On the other hand, if we made sedentary people physically active, it would be enough to treat 195 people to prevent a cardiac event. So, in the general population, there is a risk of stress, but it is not great. The effects are much greater in people with high cardiovascular risk or those who have already been diagnosed with heart disease.
We now know a lot about the biological mechanisms by which stress can affect heart disease. There are several different processes, including changes in the autonomic branch of the nervous system, an increase in stress hormones, activation of the immune pathways and inflammation and an increase in blood viscosity.
Source link
