A vital signs report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced that 3 out of 4 adults in America have a heart that is older than their actual age, putting them at a risk for heart attack and stroke. The heart’s age is calculated after profiling risk factors that affect the health of the cardiovascular system.
This is the first report to outline the differences in heart age nationwide
The heart age showed disparities across age, gender, race/ethnicity, region and other sociodemographic variables throughout the nation. A variety of risk factors like high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and cigarette smoking were taken into account for the age calculation. The report was formulated based on risk factor data gathered from each state of the U.S. and information from the Framingham Heart Study. It was found that nearly 69 million people between 30 and 74 years of age have a much older heart. To put the number in perspective, it’s roughly equal to the combined number of people residing in the 130 largest U.S. cities.
The major findings of the CDC report
Men on an average have a heart that is 8 years older than their chronological age, while women fare slightly better with hearts 5 years older than their actual age. The gap between heart age and chronological age among African-American men and women was 11 years⎯the highest among the race/ethnic groups surveyed. Heart age also greatly varied with geographical location⎯Mississippi, West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Alabama have the highest proportion of people with heart ages older than 5 years whereas, Utah, Colorado, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts have the lowest percentage. The heart age also tended to increase with chronological age and decrease with higher education and income.
Do you want to know your heart age?
You can know how old your heart is by using this calculator. Apart from giving an indicator of the risk for heart disease and stroke, knowing your heart’s age allows you monitor the effect of lifestyle interventions on cardiovascular heath. This could include quitting smoking, taking proper medication and exercising more. Learning your heart’s age early in life gives an early picture of cardiovascular conditions that could strike at an older age. Lifestyle changes can then reverse the effects and make our hearts younger, even though we may not look so.
