MADRID, 30 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
More than 99% of the people who suffered a heart attack, a stroke or heart failure already had at least one risk factor above the optimal level in advance, according to a large -scale study directed by Northwestern Medicine (United States) and the University of Yensei in South Korea.
The study, which analyzed health records for more than a decade of more than 9 million adults in South Korea and almost 7,000 people in the United States, refutes the notion that these devastating events often affect people without warning signs. The findings are published in ‘The Journal of the American College of Cardiology’.
“We believe that the study shows in a very convincing way that exposure to one or more non -optimal risk factors before these cardiovascular results is almost 100%,” describes the main author, Dr. Philip Greenland, a professor of cardiology at the Feinberg Faculty of Medicine of the Northwestern University. “The objective now is to work harder to find ways to control these modifiable risk factors instead of diverting to other factors that are not easily treatable and are not causal,” he adds.
High and glucose cholesterol: risks that go unnoticed
Greenland and his collaborators selected four main cardiovascular risk factors: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose and smoking. They used the ideal cardiovascular health definitions of the American Heart Association, which describe non -optimal levels such as blood pressure = 120/80 mm Hg or treatment; Total cholesterol = 200 mg/dl or treatment; fasting glycemia = 100 mg/dl, diagnosis of diabetes or treatment; last or current tobacco consumption.
In a secondary analysis, the equipment also analyzed the clinically high risk factors, the highest thresholds that doctors usually use for diagnosis: blood pressure = 140/90, cholesterol = 240, glucose = 126 and current smoking.
The scientists analyzed health data of more than 9.3 million Korean adults and almost 7,000 American adults, who were followed up for up to two decades. Thanks to the fact that these cohorts included repeated medical evaluations, the research team could determine the levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and tobacco exposure that people had years before their first cardiovascular event.
In Korean and American cohorts, the results were conclusive: more than 99% of the people who developed coronary heart disease, heart failure or stroke had at least one non -optimal risk factor before the event.
More than 93% had two or more risk factors. High blood pressure, or hypertension, was the most common cause, affecting more than 95% of patients in South Korea and more than 93% in the United States. Even in women under 60 years (the group that is often assumed that it has the lowest risk) more than 95% still had at least one non -optimal factor before heart failure or stroke.
When the researchers raised the standard to clinically high levels, the pattern remained. Thus, it was confirmed that at least 90% of patients still had at least one risk factor Important before your first cardiac event.
SUMMARY
The main risk factors identified are:
Hypertension (high blood pressure) → The most common, affecting 95% or more of patients.
High cholesterol
High glucose or diabetes
Smoking (current or past)
This pattern is maintained even in young people or women under 60 years of age, which is sometimes assumed that they have a low risk.
