How Fast Is Your Heart Aging? Researchers Created a New Online Tool to Help You Find Out

The gaps between heart age and chronological age were more important for black and Hispanic participants, those who were of average age and people with levels of education and lower income.

What is a “good” or “bad” cardiac age depends on the person. But in general, if you The age of the heart is younger that your real age – or, A few more years –It’s a Good sign, Said Khan.

But if your heart age is five or 10 years older that your chronological age may indicate that you need treatment, She explained.

In most of these cases, much higher a cardiac age is linked to sub -optimal blood pressure and cholesterol – factors that can be modified with lifestyle and drugs, added Khan.

Although there are many MCV risk calculators, many experts agree with study authors – the The cardiac age calculator can be particularly useful.

Be able to see heart age and chronological age side by side makes heart health easier to understand, Nour Makarem, PHD, cardiovascular epidemiologist and assistant professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told Health.

In addition, the risk percentage can be confusing without more context.

For example, having a risk of CVD at 10 years 20% is considered high, But someone could see this number and Suppose they are clear (There is an 80% chance of not cardiac events), said Parveen Garg, MD, preventive cardiologist and associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck school of Medicine of the University of South California.

Using Heart age and relative risk of MCV together Maybe the “Most effective means” To communicate a person’s heart health, he said Health.

The heart age tool will be particularly “beneficial if it can be integrated into electronic health files”, so that clinicians can follow it over time, Keith Ferdinand, MD, director of preventive cardiology at Tulane University School of Medicine, said Health.

However, some experts are more skeptical.

On the one hand, it can take a while that a new tool like this is easily used in clinical practice. More, Doctors already have a host of other cardiac health rating measures, Michael Miller, MD, cardiologist at Penn Medicine, said Health.

There is also No concrete evidence which presents the risk of MCV as a Heart age makes people more likely to improve their heart health. What would be more convincing, said Miller, would be a study that studied if people who knew their heart age had fewer cardiac events as their peers.

Khan said she was planning to study if the heart age improves cardiovascular results, but Miller is not convinced that there would be a difference.

“We know that the treatment of high blood pressure, high glucose and high cholesterol is important, whatever the heart age,” he said.

Miller was also concerned about a Heart age lower than planned could give a patient a false feeling on their health.

Nathan Wong, PHD, director of the Cardiac disease prevention program at UC Irvine, accepted, in particular because the The cardiac age calculator is quite limited.

It does not integrate family history, factors related to pregnancy, body mass index (BMI) and other cardiac health biomarkers, which “could cause a heart era which is significantly lower or greater than what is estimated,” said Wong Health.

Regarding heart age, it is important to remember that the tool is Only one way to predict your risk of MCV. In addition, this number does not necessarily provide new information, Garg said.

“It simply offers an alternative and potentially more understandable way, to communicate the risk of MCV for patients compared to absolute risk alone,” he said.

But if you want Try the new tool, Make sure you have your average blood pressure, your total cholesterol, your HDL cholesterol and your EGFR levels available so that you can get a reading. These measures are generally evaluated by a health professional; However, if you have recent tests or approximations, You should be able to calculate your heart age at home.

If you have a higher heart age than your chronological age, it may be worth talking to your doctor how you can lower it. You can do that by approach the risk factors of MCV, which includes:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Smoking
• Kidney disease
• Obesity
• High alcohol consumption
• Lack of sleep
• Diet rich in sugar, fat and salt added
• Sedentary lifestyle