Living Healthier, Longer- Better late than never!: The Effect of Risk Factors on Life Expectancy

The five classic risk factors for cardiovascular disease are well known - smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and underweight or overweight/obesity. All increase the likelihood of heart ailments down the road. A new study reported that although individuals could still face the risk of cardiovascular disease as they age, those who maintain a healthy lifestyle at the age of 50 years, free of these risk factors, live longer and enjoy a longer health span. 

The findings, presented recently at the American College of Cardiology’s scientific sessions and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, were authored by the Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium made up of medical experts across institutions including Baylor College of Medicine. 

“The findings underline the significant role these risk factors play in life expectancy and in how long a person remains healthy as they age,“ said Dr. Christie M. Ballantyne, professor of medicine and chief of Cardiology and Cardiovascular research at Baylor and an author on the paper. 

Researchers analyzed data from more than two million individuals across 39 countries, making this one of the most comprehensive investigations to date on the effect of risk factors on life expectancy. Baylor researchers were involved through the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a large, ongoing epidemiological study designed to investigate the causes and progression of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease in communities across the United States which contributed data to this analysis.   

“The five classical risk factors are responsible for approximately half of all cardiovascular diseases worldwide. We wanted to understand how the absence or control of these factors affects life expectancy,” said Dr. Christina Magnussen, lead author with the University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Germany.

The study reveals that women who are free of these risk factors at age 50 develop cardiovascular disease 13.3 years later and die 14.5 years later than women with all five risk factors. Men without these risk factors live 10.6 years longer without cardiovascular disease and die 11.8 years later than men with these risk factors. 

Another significant finding of the study is that behavioral changes later life are also beneficial. Controlling blood pressure was found to be associated with the most additional healthy years of life. People who manage to control their high blood pressure or quit smoking by the ages of 55 and 60 live longer and remain free from cardiovascular disease for a longer duration compared to those who do not control these risk factors.

For a full list of authors, affiliations and funding support see the publication.

DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2415879