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Focus on heart health with updated online tool

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Focus on heart health with updated online tool

Four in five (79.2 per cent) people over the age of 30 have a heart age older than their chronological age, making them more likely to have a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke. This is according to a study of 575,000 people funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in BMJ Open.

Nearly nine in 10 men under 40 (87 per cent) had a heart older than they were, compared to 41 per cent of women of the same age. Of these, over a quarter (28 per cent) had a heart age greater than their chronological age by at least five years. The study also found a significant proportion of the public were unaware of their own cardiovascular risk factors.

To mark World Heart Day (29 September), the BHF, Public Health England and NHS Choices are encouraging people to use an innovative online tool, which was used to gather data in the study, to find out how old their heart is and know their cardiovascular risk.

The older a person’s heart age, the higher their risk of a cardiovascular event, such as a stroke or heart attack and a heart age greater than 70 increases the risk significantly. It is hoped that the Heart Age Tool will motivate people to think about their risk factors before problems develop, and empower individuals to proactively manage these risk factors and minimise risk through suggested interventions.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at BHF, said: “Knowing your heart age is vital to taking control of your health. Armed with this knowledge, you can start to make changes to help protect yourself against cruel and life-changing events such as heart attack and stroke. The younger you start making small but significant changes, the greater the return on your investment in your health."

He added: "Why not take action this World Heart Day and make the first steps to improve the health of your heart by logging on and using this simple and quick heart age online tool?”

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