Young at heart? Not most Americans, government report says

Your heart might be older than you are. A new government report suggests age is just a number – and perhaps not a very telling one when it comes to your risk of heart attack or stroke.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report takes a new approach to try to spur more Americans to take steps to prevent cardiovascular disease. CDC scientists estimated the average “heart age” of men and women in every state, based on risk factors like high blood pressure, obesity and whether they smoke or have diabetes. Then it compared the numbers to average actual ages.

The results?

Nearly 3 out of 4 U.S. adults have a heart that’s older than the rest of their body, according to CDC calculations.

Heart disease, with 598,832 deaths, was the leading cause of death in California in 2013, according to data put out earlier this year by the state’s Department of Public Health.

Between 2011 and 2013 in Merced County, there were an estimated 246 deaths related to coronary heart disease – that’s about 94 deaths per 100,000 people.

The death rate for stroke in California is estimated at 35 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Department of Public Health. In Merced County, that rate is 36 deaths per 100,000 people.

For U.S. men on average, the predicted heart age was nearly eight years greater than their real age. For U.S. women, it was about 51/2 years.

“This is alarming. Heart disease is the nation’s No. 1 killer,” said the report’s lead author, CDC scientist Quanhe Yang.

“But the bottom line is you can do some very simple things” to become younger at heart, he said.

Each year, 1 in 4 U.S. deaths is due to heart disease. Many are heart attacks and strokes. The average age of a first heart attack is about 641/2 for men and 72 for women, according to the American Heart Association.

Overall, the nation’s heart disease death rate has been falling thanks to advances in prevention and treatment, including drugs to control blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

But heart disease remains a problem and health officials have been pushing to get more people to control their weight, quit smoking and take other steps to help their heart and blood vessels.

The CDC is leading a “Million Hearts” campaign, launched in 2012 to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. CDC scientists were intrigued by a heart age calculation developed by other researchers conducting a large study in Framingham, Mass.

Some research has indicated that Framingham heart age calculations have resonated more with patients than more conventional medical advice and warnings, so CDC researchers used the Framingham model – and CDC national survey data – to produce the first report on heart age across the nation.

CDC officials released the report Tuesday.

“It gives a stark, simple picture of your future risk of having – or dying from – heart attack or stroke,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

The estimates were specific to adults 30 to 74 who have not had a heart attack or stroke.

Mississippi has the highest proportion of adults with advanced heart age, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Alabama. Those states also have higher rates of smoking, obesity and other heart disease risk factors.

Utah and Colorado had the lowest proportions of people with a heart age five years or greater than their actual age, followed by California, Hawaii and Massachusetts.

The study also found that for blacks nationally, heart age was 11 years greater than actual age. The gap was much smaller for whites and Latinos.

On Tuesday, CDC officials also shared the Framingham study’s online heart age prediction calculator for individuals to assess themselves. People have to know their systolic blood pressure – the higher of the two measurements – to generate an estimate. The heart age calculator is at http://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/risk-functions/cardiovascular-disease/general-cvd-risk-prediction-using-bmi.php

This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Young at heart? Not most Americans, government report says."