Nine Factors Found to Predict Heart Attacks

A study of 29,000 people in 52 countries from all inhabited continents in the world has shown that most heart attacks can be predicted by nine easy-to-measure factors, which are the same in every region and ethnic group worldwide. The results were published in the September 11, 2004, issue of The Lancet.

The two most important factors were found to be cigarette smoking and an abnormal ratio of blood lipids (apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-1), which together predicted two-thirds of the risk of heart attack. Additional risk factors were found to be high blood pressure, diabetes, abdominal obesity, stress, a lack of daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, a lack of daily exercise, and a lack of regular consumption of small amounts of alcohol. Worldwide, these nine factors together predicted more than 90% of the risk of a heart attack.

The study compared 15,152 individuals with their first heart attack and 14,820 others who did not have heart disease but who were of the same age, gender, and from the same city. The subjects were Europeans (7,000), Latin Americans (2,000), Chinese (6,000), South Asians (4,000), Arabs (3,500), other Asians (2,000), Africans (1,400), and Canadians (450).

The results of this study (Interheart) were presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Munich (Germany) in August 2004 by Dr. Salim Yusuf, professor of medicine at McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada), which coordinated the study.

"Since these risk factors may all be modified, this is remarkable and will change the way we look at heart attack prevention,” said Dr. Yusuf. "It means we should be able to prevent the majority of premature heart attacks in the world.”




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