One in four deaths in the United States are caused by heart disease. It is an illness that takes the lives of about 610,000 Americans every year.
Increasing the Chance of Early Detection and Treatment
But a new diagnostic test developed by pediatricians at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital can take into account many of the risk factors of heart disease and may help lower the incidence of deaths by heart disease and even prevent deaths associated with it.
Physicians all over the world could implement this test to evaluate the risks of teenagers developing heart disease, and it would further encourage healthier habits and behaviours that could save their lives.
The Key is Not Only in the Metabolic Syndrome
Heart disease is marked mostly by modifiable factors, so it is preventable, save for the genetic predisposition to it. Nevertheless, most factors are related to high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, sedentarism, smoking and an unbalanced and unhealthy diet.
The test would evaluate variables pertaining to gender, race and the metabolic syndrome, a series of conditions that include high blood pressure, high sugar levels, abnormal cholesterol levels and excessive body fat, particularly around the waist and abdomen. All of these factors increase the risk of heart disease.
Mark DeBoer and a team of colleagues researched the metabolic severity scores of children, assessing their Body Mass Index (BMI), fasting triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol and their fasting glucose. These children were continuously studied by the team till their average age was about 49.6 years old, and they found a link between their metabolic severity and the development of cardiovascular disease at a later age, as well as a connection to diabetes.
Testing Teens to Give Them A Better Quality of Life
Earlier tests only verify if the subject has or does not have a metabolic syndrome, which is what makes this test so important. This new diagnostic test creates a scale that details the extent of a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease, which is a prominent cause of death in the U.S.
A full report of the test and its details can be found in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers suggest that the scores be used to examine the risks in teenagers and young adults, to better motivate them to implement healthier habits into their daily lives and encouraging a balanced diet, regular exercise and intake of medications that would reduce the severity of their metabolic syndrome.
