Aging is a Heart Failure Risk Factor
Posted on: Monday, 5 November 2007, 15:00 CST
The act of aging is by itself a very potent risk factor for life-threatening heart failure, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.
Study leader Dr. Susan Cheng, a former medicine resident at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues, analyzed more than a half-dozen measurements of heart structure and pumping function to assess minute changes in the hearts of 5,004 men and women, ages 45 to 84 -- with no existing symptoms of heart disease.
Test results were obtained from study participants who had undergone magnetic resonance imaging of the heart, which measured individual muscle segment changes with each heartbeat.
The study found that each year as people age, the time it takes for their heart muscles to squeeze and relax grows longer -- by 2 percent to 5 percent.
It's an amazing piece of the puzzle of heart failure that finally singles out the effects of age over better-known risk factors such as high blood pressure in otherwise healthy people and regardless of race, Cheng said in a statement.
The finding were presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Results From The Kyoto Heart Study
- Landmark Heart Study Expands to Genetics
- Stent Makers Brace for New Heart Study
- Affymetrix Selected to Genotype More Than 9,000 Framingham Heart Study Samples
- OBITUARY: DR THOMAS DAWBER ; Framingham Heart Study Pioneer
- Heart Study Pioneer Dr. Dawber Dies at 92
- Estimated Risks for Developing Obesity in the Framingham Heart Study
- OTC Drugs Pose Risk for Heart, Study Shows
- A CHANGE OF HEART: How the Framingham Heart Study Helped Unravel the Mysteries of Cardiovascular Disease
- Metabolic Syndrome Variables at Low Levels in Childhood Are Beneficially Associated With Adulthood Cardiovascular Risk: The Bogalusa Heart Study
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds