February is U.S. heart month, and a DC-area physician warns that heart health should not be ignored by younger generations.
February is U.S. heart month, and a DC-area physician warns that heart health should not be ignored by younger generations.
“We are actually seeing the onset of cholesterol plaque formation in the teenage years,” says Dr. Robert Lager, president of MedStar Cardiology Associates and regional director of ambulatory cardiology at MedStar.
“Aggressive prevention of heart disease must begin in childhood; it shouldn’t wait until you’re older, ”he said.
Lager said research data shows that teenagers who died in accidents, young soldiers who died in combat, and donors of teen heart transplants found that one in six teen donors already had significant plaque in their arteries. Lager said this finding is “astonishing.”
A recent study from the Cleveland Clinic found that 80% of people don’t know the right time to get their cholesterol tested is in their 20s. Lager said too few people know the risk factors for heart disease, according to a recent survey of people with the average age of 30.
“Smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, drug use – 65% couldn’t identify them, which is pretty amazing,” said Lager.
Lager said smoking is the riskiest activity younger people do.
“And it is the most important risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease,” he said. “This actually includes secondhand smoke, so this is true for both parents and children.”
One way to convince younger people to be healthy early is to tell them it will help them stay young longer.
“You take a 50-year-old man who has a one in two chance of having heart disease for the rest of his life – a 50% chance of having a heart attack or dying of heart disease,” said Lager.
“But if you look at studies in a man who is free of these risk factors – no cholesterol problems, no blood pressure problems, no diabetes, not obese, no smoking – they have a remarkably low 5% risk of developing cardiovascular disease. age 95, ”said Lager.
You can find more healthy lifestyle tips at the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute website.
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