WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study has found that more than 99 percent of people who experienced a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure already had at least one health risk factor before the event, signaling that these serious heart problems rarely occur without warning signs.
The research, led by Northwestern Medicine and Yonsei University in South Korea, analyzed health records from over 9 million adults in South Korea and nearly 7,000 adults in the U.S. over a period of more than ten years.
The researchers focused on four major risk factors - high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and smoking. They also studied more severe levels that doctors often use to diagnose these conditions, such as a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher, cholesterol of 240 or higher, blood sugar of 126 or higher, and current smoking habits.
Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the findings showed that over 99 percent of people who developed heart disease, stroke, or heart failure had at least one nonoptimal risk factor before their first event, and over 93 percent had two or more. High blood pressure was the most common risk factor, found in over 95 percent of patients in South Korea and more than 93 percent in the U.S.
Even among women under 60, who are often considered to have a lower risk, more than 95 percent had at least one nonoptimal factor before developing heart failure or stroke. When the researchers looked only at the more severe, clinically elevated levels, it revealed that at least 90 percent of patients still had one major risk factor before their first serious heart event.
The researchers advised that keeping blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar in check and avoiding smoking can greatly reduce the risk of these life-threatening conditions.
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