WASHINGTON — A new government health report gives new meaning to the term “young at heart.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been crunching numbers on heart health and says many Americans have a heart age older than their actual age.
According to the CDC, nearly three out of four of American adults have a heart that is older than the rest of their body.
To help promote awareness of “heart age,” the CDC put a calculator online that anyone can use to get a feel for their cardiac health.
It’s the same calculator used in the Framingham Heart Study — the largest study of community heart health ever completed in the United States.
“It’s a very simple calculator, I would encourage people to use it,” says Dr. Richard Rubin, chief of cardiology at Sibley Hospital in D.C.
The calculator asks a few simple questions related to age, blood pressure, weight and smoking status. It only takes a minute or two to complete, though you do need to know your systemic blood pressure — the higher of the two measurements — to complete the assessment.
Rubin says it is not meant to be a scientific diagnosis as it does not include information like cholesterol levels, family history or treatment already underway.
But he says it is a great way to spread awareness about heart health, and to give individuals basic information to share with their physician.
He notes most of the risk factors included in the calculator are related to lifestyle choices.
“We know that you can lose weight, you can treat diabetes, you can treat blood pressure and cholesterol, you can certainly give up smoking,” Rubin says.
The CDC says Americans are never too old or too young to make changes that can affect your heart health. And CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden emphasizes “everyone deserves to be young — or at least not old — at heart.”
The CDC released the report Tuesday. The estimates were specific to adults 30 to 74 who have not had a heart attack or stroke.
Mississippi has the highest proportion of adults with advanced heart age, followed by West Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Alabama. Those states also have higher rates of smoking, obesity, and other heart disease risk factors, according to the report.
Utah and Colorado had the lowest proportions of people with a heart age five years or greater than their actual age, followed by California, Hawaii and Massachusetts.
The Associated Press reports that the nation’s heart disease death rate has been falling thanks to advances in prevention and treatment, including drugs to control blood pressure and lower cholesterol.
But heart disease remains America’s leading cause of death and health officials have been pushing to get more people to control their weight, quit smoking and take other steps to help their heart and blood vessels.
Editor’s Note: The heart health calculator site was down Tuesday afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
