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Al jong gezond leven om oud te kunnen worden.*
Uit een studie van ruim 31 jaar onder 7.300 vrouwen blijkt
dat een gezonde levensstijl op jonge leeftijd de kans op doodgaan op latere
leeftijd een heel stuk verkleind. Een gezonde levensstijl blijkt uit, goede
bloeddruk, normaal cholesterol, normaal gewicht en niet roken.
Heart-Healthy
Lifestyle in Youth Pays Off Later
Study finds women less
likely to die of any cause as they age
Young women who are
heart-healthy and work to stay that way are likelier to see that lifestyle pay
huge dividends in their later years, a new study finds.
Women who have normal
blood pressure, normal cholesterol and normal body weight in their youth, and
who don't have diabetes and don't smoke, are less likely to die from heart
disease as they age, compared with women with one or more of these risk factors,
the study finds.
Although a favorable
risk profile has been shown to reduce the death rate from heart disease among
men and middle-aged women, this is the first time it has been shown to benefit
young women, according to the report in the Oct. 6 issue of the Journal of
the American Medical Association.
"We found the
rate of mortality from cardiovascular and all-cause mortality is much lower in
women with no risk factors compared with those who have one or more risk
factors," said study author Dr. Martha L. Daviglus, an associate professor
of preventive medicine and clinical pharmacology from Northwestern University.
"All of the
cardiovascular risk levels that we call favorable are really the recommendations
for a normal profile," she added. "All young women in the U.S. should
be following these recommendations."
In its study,
Daviglus's group collected data on 7,302 women 18 to 39 years of age. The women
were part of the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry study,
which included a total of 39,522 men and women.
Between 1967 and 1973,
these women were identified as not having heart disease. Based on their risk
factors, they were assigned to four risk groups. The researchers found that 20.1
percent of the women were at low risk for heart disease, but 58.5 percent had
one or more risk factors. Most of the women in the low-risk group were younger,
white and better educated than their counterparts at higher risk.
Over 31 years of
follow-up, 141 women died from coronary heart disease and coronary vascular
disease, and 469 died from all other causes.
Even though there were
changes over time in heart disease risk factors, the lowest death rate from
heart disease and all other conditions was seen among women in the low-risk
group. The rate increased as the number of heart disease risk factors increased,
the researchers report.
Despite increases in
risk factors over time, those who had no risk factors when they were young still
had a lower mortality rate as they aged, Daviglus said.
"This is not
genetically determined," she said. "Young women should try to be at
low risk. They should exercise, not smoke, control their weight and blood
pressure and cholesterol. Then they will be OK."
Daviglus added that if
you are middle-aged, it's not too late to change your lifestyle and improve your
health. "But the younger the better," she said.
"Young people
whose lives are still relatively uncomplicated by adverse risk factor levels
need to stay at low risk by pursuing a healthy lifestyle -- avoiding or quitting
smoking, adopting healthy eating patterns, and remaining or becoming physically
active," Daviglus advised.
"Heart disease
risks are early, not overnight," said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, chief of women's
cardiovascular care at Lenox Hill Hospital and a spokeswoman for the American
Heart Association. Risk factors at an early age help predict the risk of heart
disease in the future, she added.
"Young women
really should be physically active, watch what they're eating, reduce saturated
fats in their diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and good fats,
and not smoke," Goldberg said.
"This study
underscores the importance of maintaining a low-risk profile," said Dr.
Lori Mosca, an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons and director of Preventive Cardiology at New
York-Presbyterian Hospital.
"A striking
feature is that very few women actually have a low-risk profile," she said.
Mosca, who was chairwoman of the American Heart Association committee that wrote
the new guidelines for women, added, "This highlights the need to implement
the American Heart Association guidelines for women that were published this
year."
Young women need to
maintain a heart-healthy lifestyle, Mosca said. This includes reducing high
blood pressure and cholesterol. "This study suggests that if they do, they
will live longer," she said. (okt. 2004)