Fifty is the new 60 for some, with unhealthy lifestyles meaning nearly one in five middle-aged men have a ‘heart age’ of someone a decade older.
According to the article from dailymail.co.uk, some 18 per cent of men and 14 per cent of women in their 50s have hearts ageing ten years faster than they should be, according to Public Health England calculations.Soaring obesity rates, poor diets and lack of exercise are taking their toll on the UK’s cardiovascular health.
- Each month, 7,400 people in England die from heart disease or stroke
- A quarter of the deaths are among people under 75 – and most are preventable
- Research revealed nearly half of adults fail to walk briskly even once a month
The new analysis, based on tests taken by 1.2million people aged over 30 in England, shows 83 per cent of men and 73 per cent of women have prematurely ageing hearts.
Officials are particularly worried about over-50s – the age at which heart health seems to take a sudden downward turn, dramatically increasing the risk of a heart attack, stroke or cardiac arrest. The researchers used an online test which questions people about their weight, height and lifestyle.
Jamie Waterall, in charge of cardiovascular disease prevention at Public Health England, said: ‘We should all aim for our heart age to be the same as our real age – addressing our risk of heart disease and stroke should not be left until we are older.’
Cardiovascular disease, which causes heart attacks and strokes, is the main cause of death among men and the second highest cause of death in women. The Heart Age Test has been available on the Public Health England and British Heart Foundation websites since February 2015.
An assessment of 1.2million tests taken showed that 78 per cent of participants had a heart age older than their real age.
But among 14 per cent, taking into account all ages, participants’ health was so bad that their heart age was judged to be a full decade older than their real age. This gap increased with age, with only 2 per cent of men and 1 per cent of women in their 30s showing a ten-year gap between real age and heart age. This increased to 7 per cent for men and women in their 40s, 18 per cent of men and 14 per cent of women in their 50s, and 32 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women in their 60s.
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