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In Germany, around 300,000 people suffer a heart attack and 270,000 people suffer a stroke every year. In many cases, those affected succumb to the consequences. Cardiovascular diseases account for around a third of all deaths every year, making them the most common cause of death.

The research team found that 99 percent of all cardiovascular events examined had one of the four major risk factors beforehand. These are:

• High blood pressure (≥120/80 mmHg or under treatment)
• increased cholesterol levels (≥200 mg/dL or under treatment)
• high blood sugar levels (Fasting blood glucose ≥100 mg/dL, diabetes diagnosis or treatment)
• Smoke (previous or active)

In over 93 percent there were even two or more risk factors.

This did not involve clinical diagnoses of high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol. They also considered “non-optimal” values, but still below the threshold for a formal diagnosis.

High blood pressure is the most common factor

High blood pressure was the most common. It affected over 95 percent of patients in South Korea and more than 93 percent in the United States. The second most common was high cholesterol, followed by high blood sugar levels.

“We believe the study shows very convincingly that exposure to one or more suboptimal risk factors is close to 100 percent prior to these cardiovascular outcomes,” said senior author Philip Greenland, professor of cardiology, commenting on the results.

5 heart diseases examined

The team examined five event types separately:

• Coronary artery disease (including fatal and non-fatal heart attacks)
• heart failure
• stroke
• Myocardial infarction (a certain type of heart attack)
• “Comprehensive cardiovascular disease”, i.e. all of these diseases in a common category.

In the US data, depending on the disease, 99.5 to 99.7 percent of participants previously had at least one of the risk factors. The numbers in the Korean study read almost identically:

Even in women under 60, more than 95 percent of heart failures or strokes could be attributed to one of the four risk factors. And this is actually considered to be the population group with the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease.

Traditional risk factors in focus

Even when researchers raised the bar to clinically elevated levels that correspond to classic “diagnoses,” the pattern persisted. At least 90 percent of the patients still had at least one of the risk factors before their first so-called “cardiac event”.

“The goal now is to work more intensively on controlling these modifiable risk factors, rather than distracting ourselves from looking for other factors that are not easily treatable and not causal,” says study author Greenland, summarizing the results.

Lower blood pressure naturally

How do I know if my blood pressure is too high? Symptoms for this include:

• Morning headache, which decreases when the head is elevated
• Dizziness, nausea, ringing in the ears
• Nosebleeds
• Fatigue and insomnia
• Shortness of breath
• Vision problems

In addition to medical treatment, there are several simple measures to lower blood pressure yourself:

• Regular exercise e.g. walks, light endurance training, 3 to 4 strength training sessions per week
• Lose weight
• Stress reduction
• Low-salt diet