Urgent warning to anyone over 40 as hidden heart disease poses ‘high risk’ even if you’re healthy
YOUR risk of having a heart attack could be up to eight times higher if you have a hidden heart condition, fresh research has found.
But the condition - called atherosclerosis - might not be diagnosed until too late due to lack of symptoms.
Atherosclerosis happens when fatty deposits build up in your arteries over time, narrowing them and making it difficult for blood to flow through them, according to the NHS.
Many people won't have symptoms of the disease, but it increases your risk of a heart attack and stroke.
The study - published in the Annals of Internal Medicine - highlighted that people may develop atherosclerosis at an early age but the condition could remain undetected for many years before revealing itself as a heart attack.
Researchers from Copenhagen, Denmark, studied over 9,000 people who were 40 or older and had no known history of cardiovascular disease, to determine their risk of a heart attack.
Read more about heart attacks
They used computed tomography angiography - a detailed X-ray of the heart and coronary arteries - and diagnosed 46 per cent of participants with subclinical coronary atherosclerosis.
Subclinical means a disease does not have definite or readily observable symptoms.
Of those, 10 per cent had an obstructive form of the disease, but it was non-obstructive for the other 36 per cent.
A follow up with participants between a month and nine years later found that 71 had had a heart attack and 193 of them had passed away.
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Researchers concluded that the risk of having a heart attack was 'more than eight-fold' for people with obstructive coronary atherosclerosis.
Clinical associate professor and lead researcher of the study, Dr Klaus Fuglsang Kofoed, told Healthline that the results showed early detection was important for heart disease.
The study sought to introduce a new way to detect subclinical coronary artery disease and lessen the chances of a subsequent heart attack through early detection of cardiovascular issues, he added.
"We hope to pull more people who are already getting a CT scan to also include screening for cardiovascular disease," Dr Kofoed said.
Atherosclerosis symptoms
You many not have any symptoms from atherosclerosis.
But you could experience:
- chest pain
- pain in your arms and legs, especially when exercising
- feeling short of breath
- feeling tired all the time
- feeling weak
- feeling confused
There are certain things that increase your chances of the disease:
- being over 65 years of age
- smoking
- having high cholesterol
- having high blood pressure
- having close relatives who have cardiovascular disease
There are certain things you can do stop atherosclerosis from getting worse.
The NHS recommends you:
- eat less saturated fat and sugar and have a healthy diet
- exercise regularly
- maintain a healthy weight
- keep your blood sugar levels under control if you have diabetes
- don't smoke
- don't have more than 14 units of alcohol per week
If you're over 40, you can get a free NHS health check which can spot the early signs of heart disease and stroke, as well as kidney disease, dementia and type 2 diabetes.
If you have chest pain that comes and goes, pain in your arms and legs when exercising or walking and feel short of breath, you should urgently see a GP or call NHS 111.
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Call 999 immediately if you have:
- pain like a tight band or heavy weight in your chest - this could be the sign of a heart attack
- face dropping on one side, cannot hold both your arms up, difficulty speaking - this could be the sign of a stroke
- difficulty breathing – gasping for breath, choking, not able to get any words out
- sudden confusion – unable to think or speak clearly, suddenly do not know where you are