A large study involving more than 9 million adults in the United States and South Korea revealed that the vast majority of heart attacks and strokes are preceded by controllable health risk factors.
According to the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, four major factors are associated with approximately 99% of cardiovascular disease cases: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and smoking.
The results showed that even the least at-risk groups, such as women under 60, had over 95% of these risk factors before developing heart disease.
High blood pressure was the most prevalent factor, with more than 93% of people who suffered heart attacks or serious heart complications having high blood pressure.
Northwestern University cardiologist Philip Greenland said the findings confirm that having one or more uncontrolled risk factors is a common factor in most cardiac cases.
The researchers explained that some cases described as "unexplained heart attacks" may be related to the failure to accurately monitor health risk levels in previous studies, stressing that the focus should be on prevention and control of modifiable factors to maintain heart health.
