More Americans under the age of 40 are having heart attacks than ever before, a new study has found. The report comes days after the death of 52-year-old actor Luke Perry, who suffered a massive stroke, and serves as another stern reminder that younger generations are equally vulnerable to these deadly conditions.
According to the latest research that will be presented at the upcoming American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session, the number of Americans under the age of 50 who had suffered heart attacks has increased dramatically, rising by 2 percent each year for the last 10 years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that an estimated 735,000 Americans have a heart attack each year. Of these, 525,000 are a first heart attack and 210,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack. Heart attack used to be a condition that predominantly affected older generations, but that is changing.
"It used to be incredibly rare to see anyone under age 40 come in with a heart attack — and some of these people are now in their 20s and early 30s," said Ron Blankstein, associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the study's senior author. "Based on what we are seeing, it seems that we are moving in the wrong direction."
The 16-year study, which is a first of its kind, included 2,097 heart attack survivors under the age of 50. Researchers split them up into two groups, patients who were between 41 to 50 years old and patients who were 40 or younger.
They found that one in five of those heart attack survivors were either 40 or younger. What's worse, the study shows that the younger patients who suffered heart attacks still had the same rate of adverse outcomes that included dying from heart attack and stroke.
"Even if you're in your 20s or 30s, once you've had a heart attack, you're at risk for more cardiovascular events and you have just as much risk as someone who may be older than you," Blankstein said.
"It's really important for us to understand why people are actually having heart attacks at a younger age, when there is even more productive life lost."
In order to understand the uptick of heart attacks in younger adults, Blankstein and his team turned to possible risk factors. They found that traditional risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, family history of premature heart attack, and high cholesterol, were similar between the two groups. The difference was that the younger patients also reported substance abuse, including marijuana and cocaine.
Commenting on this, Blankstein said that the majority of heart attacks could be prevented through lifestyle changes and earlier detection.
"My best advice is to avoid tobacco, get regular exercise, eat a heart-healthy diet, lose weight if you need to, manage your blood pressure and cholesterol, avoid diabetes if you can, and stay away from cocaine and marijuana, because they're not necessarily good for your heart," he said.
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