Young adults should monitor their cholesterol, ASAP
If your doctor tells you high cholesterol is something you need to be concerned about; he or she is absolutely correct. What they might not tell you, however, is that how long you have high cholesterol also plays a role in how detrimental the condition is to your health. According to research published this week in the journal Circulation, the longer an individual has high cholesterol in their 30’s and 40’s and beyond, the greater the risk that individual will develop heart disease. SEE ALSO: The fruit you need to help control bad cholesterol While this correlation may seem like common sense to some, most people aren’t aware of how important it is to take care of high cholesterol in a timely manner. Many people think that as soon as they lower their cholesterol their risk is gone; that isn’t the case, however. The time through which cholesterol was elevated increases heart disease risk even after that individual brings cholesterol numbers under control. “The duration of exposure plays a role, lead author, Dr. Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, a cardiology fellow at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, told the New York Times. Suppose you have two adults, both 55, same cholesterol, same blood pressure and so on, but one has had high cholesterol for one year and one for 11 years. The person who has had it for 11 years has a 39 percent increase in risk. Navar-Boggan and her team examined data on 1,478 adults who were free of heart disease at age 55. For a period of up to 20 years, researchers followed up on study participants to see how cholesterol levels affected heart disease. What they discovered was for every decade a healthy adult between the ages of 35 and 55 had high cholesterol, their chance of heart disease increased by 39 percent. The number of years with elevated cholesterol, or lipid years, can affect you in a similar way to the number of pack years you have had as a smoker, Navar-Boggan said in a press release. It shows that what were doing to our blood vessels in our 20s, 30s and 40s is laying the foundation for disease that will present itself later in our lives. If we wait until our 50s or 60s to think about cardiovascular disease prevention, the cats already out of the bag. The research suggests adults should be closely monitoring their cholesterol levels right from the start of adulthood. Catching high cholesterol early is important to preventing heart disease down the road. While lowering cholesterol in a patient’s 50’s is better than not lowering it at all, as far as heart disease risk is concerned, it is better to lower cholesterol as soon as it goes above acceptable margins. In the research, by the time participants were age 55, 40 percent of them had been living with high cholesterol for at least ten years. “The effect is perhaps even stronger among adults who are otherwise healthy,” explained Navar-Boggan. “So even if you control everything else in your lifeyou dont smoke, your blood pressure and weight are normal, and you dont have diabeteshaving elevated cholesterol over many years can still cause problems in the long run. Researchers indicated the first step toward better heart health is for younger adults to start taking part in routine health examinations. Because younger adults are typically healthier, they visit the doctor less than older adults and may not catch high cholesterol soon enough. SEE ALSO: Why bad cholesterol can spread cancer “Its never too soon for young adults to talk with their doctors about a comprehensive strategy for heart health, first and foremost focusing on diet and exercise,” Navar-Boggan said. “Our study suggests, though, that young adults who cannot control cholesterol with diet and exercise alone may benefit from medication earlier in life.The post Young adults should monitor their cholesterol, ASAP appeared first on Voxxi.
If your doctor tells you high cholesterol is something you need to be concerned about; he or she is absolutely correct. What they might not tell you, however, is that how long you have high cholesterol also plays a role in how detrimental the condition is to your health.
According to research published this week in the journal Circulation, the longer an individual has high cholesterol in their 30’s and 40’s and beyond, the greater the risk that individual will develop heart disease.
SEE ALSO: The fruit you need to help control bad cholesterol
While this correlation may seem like common sense to some, most people aren’t aware of how important it is to take care of high cholesterol in a timely manner. Many people think that as soon as they lower their cholesterol their risk is gone; that isn’t the case, however. The time through which cholesterol was elevated increases heart disease risk even after that individual brings cholesterol numbers under control.
“The duration of exposure plays a role, lead author, Dr. Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, a cardiology fellow at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, told the New York Times. Suppose you have two adults, both 55, same cholesterol, same blood pressure and so on, but one has had high cholesterol for one year and one for 11 years. The person who has had it for 11 years has a 39 percent increase in risk.
Navar-Boggan and her team examined data on 1,478 adults who were free of heart disease at age 55. For a period of up to 20 years, researchers followed up on study participants to see how cholesterol levels affected heart disease. What they discovered was for every decade a healthy adult between the ages of 35 and 55 had high cholesterol, their chance of heart disease increased by 39 percent.
The number of years with elevated cholesterol, or lipid years, can affect you in a similar way to the number of pack years you have had as a smoker, Navar-Boggan said in a press release.
It shows that what were doing to our blood vessels in our 20s, 30s and 40s is laying the foundation for disease that will present itself later in our lives. If we wait until our 50s or 60s to think about cardiovascular disease prevention, the cats already out of the bag.
The research suggests adults should be closely monitoring their cholesterol levels right from the start of adulthood. Catching high cholesterol early is important to preventing heart disease down the road. While lowering cholesterol in a patient’s 50’s is better than not lowering it at all, as far as heart disease risk is concerned, it is better to lower cholesterol as soon as it goes above acceptable margins.
In the research, by the time participants were age 55, 40 percent of them had been living with high cholesterol for at least ten years.
“The effect is perhaps even stronger among adults who are otherwise healthy,” explained Navar-Boggan. “So even if you control everything else in your lifeyou dont smoke, your blood pressure and weight are normal, and you dont have diabeteshaving elevated cholesterol over many years can still cause problems in the long run.
Researchers indicated the first step toward better heart health is for younger adults to start taking part in routine health examinations. Because younger adults are typically healthier, they visit the doctor less than older adults and may not catch high cholesterol soon enough.
SEE ALSO: Why bad cholesterol can spread cancer
“Its never too soon for young adults to talk with their doctors about a comprehensive strategy for heart health, first and foremost focusing on diet and exercise,” Navar-Boggan said. “Our study suggests, though, that young adults who cannot control cholesterol with diet and exercise alone may benefit from medication earlier in life.
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The post Young adults should monitor their cholesterol, ASAP appeared first on Voxxi.
