Most US adults have a heart that’s ageing faster than they are – sometimes by more than a decade – according to a new study led by researchers at Northwestern Medicine.
The study, published in journal JAMA Cardiology, used a new calculator to estimate 'heart age' in over 14,000 US adults without prior cardiovascular disease.
The tool, which is free to try online, reimagines percentage-based risk scores by converting them into an age, making it easier for people to grasp how their lifestyle and health factors are affecting their long-term heart health.
“Traditional percentage-based estimates are often difficult to understand and can feel very abstract,” senior author Prof Sadiya Khan told BBC Science Focus.
“We thought that offering heart disease risk as an age was a helpful complementary tool that may be more intuitive or relatable because it is easier to understand if your heart age is ‘older’ or ‘younger’ than your actual age.”
The calculator uses common health data, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking status and diabetes, to estimate a person’s heart age based on equations developed by the American Heart Association.
On average, the study found women had a heart age 4.1 years older than their actual age, while for men, the gap was 7 years.
But the disparities were even starker among marginalised groups. Black men had a heart age 8.5 years older than their chronological age, compared to 6.4 years for white men.
Hispanic and Black women also had significantly older heart ages than white or Asian women. Those with lower income or education levels were similarly affected.
“While these disparities are not surprising given the higher burden of heart disease risk in minority groups or those with adverse social factors, this helps to highlight the need for more urgent action,” Khan said.
“Identifying individuals who have an ‘older’ heart age can help prompt action to prioritise prevention in at-risk individuals.”
Khan hopes the tool will be used in primary care to support conversations about risk and motivate healthier choices. “The exciting thing about this tool is there are a lot of things people can do,” she said, including exercise, quitting smoking, improving diet and taking blood pressure or cholesterol medication if needed.
“The hope is that this empowers people to optimise their heart health for healthier ageing and longer health spans.”
Read more:
- 7 small changes that will significantly cut your risk of heart disease
- This simple walking hack can help improve your cardiovascular health
- This cholesterol-lowering drug combo could save hundreds of thousands of lives, claim scientists
Sadiya S Khan is the Magerstadt Professor of cardiovascular epidemiology in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University. She is also board-certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases and holds active medical licensure in the state of Illinois.