Expert QA

How serious are heart disease risk factors?

By Stacey Colino for Live Right Live Well

Very serious. If you have high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol levels, don’t blow them off. They could shorten your life by as much as 15 years. In a recent study, researchers at the University of Oxford in the U.K. followed nearly 19,000 middle-aged men over a 28- to 30-year period. They found that those who had three risk factors for heart disease -- smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol -- had a 10- to 15-year shorter life expectancy from age 50 on, compared with those without these or other risk factors (like diabetes or being overweight).

“The take-home message is: Know and take ownership of your risk factors,” says Dr. Tracy Stevens, a cardiologist and medical director of the Saint Luke’s Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center in Kansas City, Mo. Indeed, if you take them seriously and swing into action to change them, your heart will benefit considerably. Quit smoking and your risk of having a heart attack or stroke decreases by 50 percent after a year, and becomes similar to a nonsmoker’s within five years, says Stevens. Getting and keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol in the normal ranges yields similar benefits. So if you have risk factors for heart disease and want to live as long as possible, get those risk factors under control. The sooner you get started, the better.

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	<h2>Expert QA</h2>
<h1>How serious are heart disease risk factors? </h1>
<p>

<p>By Stacey Colino for <em><a href="http://www.liverightlivewell.com">Live Right Live Well</a></em></p>
</p>

<img src="http://www.liverightlivewell.com/partner/content/worldnow-ftp/archive/2010-04-19/expertqa/heart_disease_risk/images/large.jpg" width="181" height="212" alt="How serious are heart disease risk factors? "/>
	<p>Very serious. If you have high blood pressure or elevated
cholesterol levels, don’t blow them off. They could shorten your life
by as much as 15 years. In a recent study, researchers at the
University of Oxford in the U.K. followed nearly 19,000 middle-aged men
over a 28- to 30-year period. They found that those who had three risk
factors for heart disease -- smoking, high blood pressure and high
cholesterol -- had a 10- to 15-year shorter life expectancy from age 50
on, compared with those without these or other risk factors (like
diabetes or being overweight).</p>

<p>“The take-home message is: Know and take ownership of your risk
factors,” says Dr. Tracy Stevens, a cardiologist and medical director
of the Saint Luke’s Muriel I. Kauffman Women’s Heart Center in Kansas
City, Mo. Indeed, if you take them seriously and swing into action to
change them, your heart will benefit considerably. Quit smoking and
your risk of having a heart attack or stroke decreases by 50 percent
after a year, and becomes similar to a nonsmoker’s within five years,
says Stevens. Getting and keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol
in the normal ranges yields similar benefits. So if you have risk
factors for heart disease and want to live as long as possible, get
those risk factors under control. The sooner you get started, the
better.</p>
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