Categories
· Health/Science
· Cardio-vascular
· Food/Diet/Obesity
· Aging/Elderly
non-USA, by Country
· UK
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BMJ 2009;339:b3513, doi: 10.1136/bmj.b3513 (Published 17 September 2009), doi:10.1136/bmj.b3513
Jump to full article: British Medical Journal, 2009-09-17
Intro: WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC
There has been uncertainty about the limits of life expectancy and the relevance of cardiovascular risk factors for prediction of life expectancy
WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS
Despite substantial variability within individuals in levels of cardiovascular risk factors, the presence of three major risk factors (smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol concentration) recorded on a single occasion in middle aged men was associated with a 10 year shorter life span from age 50 (23.7 v 33.3 years) compared men with none of them
More extreme categorisation of these risk factors including BMI, diabetes mellitus/glucose intolerance, and employment grade was associated with a 15 year difference in life expectancy from age 50 (20.2 v 35.4 years)
Continued public health strategies to lower these risk factors could result in further improvements in life expectancy
major risk factors throughout the population to achieve improvements in life expectancy.22 We have also shown that a greater proportion of older people in the UK are surviving to very old age. Continued public health strategies to lower mean levels of the three main cardiovascular risk factors, together with more intensive medical treatment for “high risk” sub- groups, including use of medication to lower blood pressure23 24 and cholesterol concentration,25 that have proved efficacy could result in further improve- ments in life expectancy.26
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