MUNICH, Germany – The causes of heart disease are surprisingly the same in every region and race, and stress seems to play a more important role in heart attacks than previously recognized, a major new study has found.
The research, presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, followed 29,000 people in 52 countries. It took a decade and 262 scientists to complete the work, which will be published in the next issue of The Lancet medical journal.
The study examined 15,000 people who had suffered their first heart attacks and matched them with someone of the same age, sex and location who had not had a heart attack.
A bad cholesterol profile, measured using a new test considered better than the standard one that looks at the balance between good HDL cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol, was the most important risk factor.
Smoking was the next most important player, followed by diabetes, high blood pressure and a fat belly.
Psychological stress came next, followed by inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, then lack of exercise. Light to moderate alcohol consumption was found to be of slight benefit.
Most experts believe that about half of the risk of a heart attack can be prevented. The latest study, however, indicated that about 90 percent of the causes of heart attacks can be averted.
The study indicated that about 50 percent of the chance of having a heart attack comes from a bad cholesterol profile alone. Smoking is responsible for another 36 percent of the risk, the study found.
The difference between men and women seen in the West was also observed all over the world. Men usually get heart attacks at about 57, women at 65.
Although that sex difference held true everywhere, the study found that in southern Asia, the Middle East and Africa, people suffer heart attacks about 10 years earlier.
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