In a new study, researchers found seven key measures of heart health may help predict future risk of heart disease and stroke.
The seven factors include smoking, body weight, dietary habits, physical activity, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar.
The finding shows that a healthy diet, exercise and blood pressure are related to people’s heart health over time.
The study was done by a team including three from Penn State.
In the study, the team used data from 74,701 Chinese adults.
At the beginning of the study, the people completed questionnaires about their health and underwent clinical exams and lab tests three times in the first four years.
Across the following five years, the researchers kept track of any new heart disease cases in the participants.
They identified five patterns of how well people did or did not do on the seven health measures over time. These patterns were able to help predict participants’ future risk of heart disease and stroke.
For example, people who consistently scored well in the seven metrics had a lower chance of heart disease than people who did not.
The researchers also found that improving these measures over time was linked to a lower risk of heart disease in the future.
This means that people can control their future risk of heart disease by changing their lifestyle habits.
The team said that only about 2% of people in the United States and other countries meet all the ideal requirements for these seven factors.
The current finding can be used to make new policies to help reduce heart disease and stroke.
One author of the study is Xiang Gao, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State.
The study is published in JAMA Network Open.
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