The following is an article from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which is a bit scary but is why I really focus on your risk factors when you come in and why I highly recommend other labs and studies be ordered beyond the traditional cholesterol panel, blood pressure and diabetes labs to try and fish out any added risks that needs to be addressed (Coronary calcium score, Lp(a), High sensitivity C-reactive Protein (hsCRP) and Apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) levels.
WSJ-Americans Are Dying Younger By Heart Attack-By Betsy McKay
The last thing someone in their 30’s and 40’s should worry about is dying of a heart attack. But new research shows more are. The proportion of adults age 18-54 who died in the hospital of a severe first heart attack rose 57% from 2011 and 2022, according to a study that was published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Most of those who died were men, but women died at higher rates than men. The study offers the latest evidence of worsening health among younger U.S adults, including deaths from conditions traditionally tied to aging, such as heart disease and cancer. Poorer health among younger adults is one reason why heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., despite decades of medical advances that have saved millions of lives from heart attacks and other life-threatening cardiac events.
The increase among 18-54 year olds is especially concerning because mortality from heart attacks has generally been declining. At least three quarters of heart attack among young and middle age adults are first time heart attacks. Risk factors driving the increase include diabetes, chronic kidney disease and drug use. Low income could also play a role if a person cannot afford to get treatment.
A higher percentage of women than men had diabetes, obesity and chronic kidney disease and were of low income, the study had found. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that women are facing serious heart risks. A report published this week in Circulation, another American Heart Association journal, projected 59% of adult women will have hypertension by 2050, up from 49% in 2020. The latest study analyzed medical records of 1 million adults under 55 hospitalized with their first heart attack. It found that the death rate increased among those who had severe heart attacks, which is when a blood vessel that feeds the heart is completely blocked.
The findings signal “we have this epidemic of cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. Karen Joint Maddox, a cardiologist, professor and health policy researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. “If you are 35 and having a heart attack, the rarest of genetic disorders aside, it’s usually because your health is quite poor across a number of different angles,”said Joynt Maddox, who wasn’t involved in the study but led the separate new research projecting increases in cardiovascular risks in women.
More than three-quarters of the patients who had severe first heart attacks were men, and 75% were between the ages of 45 and 54 years. About 60% had high blood pressure, while more than half also had high cholesterol and smoked. About a quarter had diabetes. Younger adults need to recognize that they may be at risk, said Dr. Sadiya Khan, Magerstadt professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinburg School of Medicine, who wasn’t involved in the latest study. The risk of heart attack, stroke or heart failure begins and becomes more common as early as age 35, and sex difference emerge, Khan and colleagues found in a study published in JAHA last month.
Younger people could use a risk calculator on the AHA’s website, said Khan. They should make sure to get a 30 year estimate, rather than a 10 year one, she said, so they aren’t overly reassured by a potentially low risk for the shorter term. “Young people are getting missed,”she said.
We are at a point that we are unhealthier earlier in life now due to inactivity (both physical and social), over utilization of ultra processed foods and not enough intake of whole foods, fruits and vegetables. (Remember, if you are looking at a food label just consider it a warning label and it should not be a regular part of your regular diet.) Our parents diseases are now becoming our diseases and not just because we are getting older but because the disease are emerging younger. This is why we are screening for colon cancer at a younger age because the disease is emerging earlier. Now, with this study and many others we can say that cardiac disease is becoming younger as well. The way to reverse this trend is to start exercising and keep exercising. It needs to be a habit just like brushing or flossing your teeth. When I ask individuals if they brush their teeth daily they scoff and say of course. When I ask if they exercise daily and eat whole foods I should be getting the same response. Okay, maybe not twice a day , as is typical for brushing your teeth, but maybe like flossing. If you are flossing daily or at least 3 times a week you are doing okay but could always do better. Stay healthy my friends.
Doug
