Hearts ageing faster
Hearts are ageing faster than they should, with the average middle-aged adult’s heart having the characteristics of a heart five years’ older than the chronological age of its owner, an analysis of heart health checks by Lloydspharmacy suggests.
The analysis, based on a sample of more than 3,000 tests conducted on
adults less than 60 years old, revealed that smokers’ hearts appear
to be 14 years older than their owners’ actual ages. Non-smoking
men have hearts that are four years’ older, whereas non-smoking
women have a heart age that matches their chronological age.
“People move into a higher coronary risk category when they reach
their 40s,” said Andy Murdock, Lloydspharmacy’s pharmacy
director. “The
good news is that there is a lot that can be done to reduce risk. The
important thing is to identify people who have an elevated risk early
and then help them alter their lifestyle accordingly.”
In the analysis, heart age was calculated using an interactive online
tool based on a protocol developed by researchers at Unilever and Boston
University, Massachusetts, using factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol
levels, diet and lifestyle.
Lung age Telling smokers their “lung
age” improves the likelihood
of them quitting, UK researchers have found. They examined the effect of expressing
results from spirometric assessment of lung function in terms of lung age (the
age of an average healthy individual with the same result) as opposed to a figure
for forced expiratory volume at one second (FEV1).
A total of 561 smokers took part in the study. Of the 280 smokers who were told
their lung age, 13.6 per cent had stopped smoking at 12 months compared with
6.4 per cent of those given their FEV1 result (BMJ Online First, 6
March 2008).
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