Heart Attacks Are Affecting Younger People

This caution arrives after new findings from a study led by Kapadia, revealing serious heart events are affecting younger and more obese people.

Researchers examined risk factors for heart disease in patients treated for STEMI – ST-elevation myocardial infarction (the most deadly type of heart attack).

Among the 3,900 patients selected between 1995 and 2014, the average age fell from 64 to 60.

In the same period, diabetes in those patients rose from 24% to 31%, obesity from 31% to 40%, high blood pressure from 55% to 77% and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from 5% to 12%.

Finally, patients who suffered from three or more additional risk factors increased from 65% to 85%.

Taking Care Of Your Heart

While there are certain factors that a person cannot change, such as age and family history, there are plenty of ways that major risks can be reduced.

Patients need to take a proactive role in their heart health earlier in life; it’s a good idea to make yourself aware of the difference between heart attacks and cardiac arrests, for instance.

“On the whole, the medical community has done a good job of improving treatments for heart disease,” says Kapadia, “but this research shows that we have to do better on the prevention side.

When people come for routine checkups, it’s critical to suggest the importance of reducing risk factors through weight loss, eating a proper diet and being physically active.”

Heart attacks kill around 735,000 people in the US each year.

That’s one person every 43 seconds.