Anyone who stops smoking at the age of 60 wins two years of life

SmokeWeight problems, high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure increase the risk of Cardiovascular diseases – And people over 50 can cost over a decade of life. This is the conclusion of a study created under German management, the results of which in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine was published. Conversely, this also means: with a corresponding lifestyle and prevention, many years can be won.

Actually, we all know how harmful nicotine or a poor diet are for our health and especially for the cardiovascular system. The now published study of an international research group once again impressively represents how much lost years of life of such cardiovascular risks are.

The combination of nicotine and high blood pressure gives the risk special

«  »The five classic risk factors high blood pressureSmoke, diabetes,, Lower or overweight or obesity« And high cholesterol levels are responsible for about half of all cardiovascular diseases worldwide, » says Christina Magnussen, initial author and deputy director of the Clinic for Cardiology of the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). « We wanted to know how the absence or control of these factors affects the lifetime. »

Specifically, the team analyzed data from over two million people from 39 countries to calculate the risk of cardiovascular disease-such as heart attack or stroke-for people with and without these risk factors. The result: People who have all these risk factors at the age of 50 suffered an average of 13.3 years (in women) or 10.6 years (in men) a cardiac or circulatory disease as humans without those factors. « The five risk factors are even more relevant to women than for men, » said Ulrich Laufs, director of the clinic and polyclinic for cardiology at the University Hospital Leipzig, in an independent classification.

The doctor emphasizes that the more risk factors are available: « The risk factors are increasing. » Each factor is important, with a strong association for nicotine and high blood pressure showed in the study: Whoever stopped smoking between the ages of 55 and 60win two years of life, if you get your blood pressure under control, you will be rewarded at 1.7 additional years.

Expert says: In Germany, too little health policy is done for prevention

In fact, the study results show how important prevention is. Heribert Schunkert from the German Heart Center Munich emphasizes that even at the age of 50, it was not too late to improve the lifestyle and treat risk factors.

Holger Thiele, director of the University Clinic for Cardiology – Helios Foundation Professorship at the Heart Center Leipzig, says: « In this country, the main risk factors that were examined in this study – smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and increased cholesterol – compared to other European countries in the population are clearly overrepresented. » This is certainly one of the reasons why Germany has a lesser life expectancy compared to the other Western European countries.

In Germany, a health care focused on prevention is only insufficient, noticologist Stephan Baldus from the University Hospital Cologne notes: « Germany does not have an early detection program of innate hypercholesterolemia in children, no prevention program for recognizing high blood pressure, diabetes or renal failure and only insufficient smoking reclaiming program. » Appropriate prevention is also important because the risk factors also affected cancer and neurological diseases. ((Alice Lanzke, dpa)))