Heart age calculator: Check your ‘heart age’ — it can even predict disease risk and more

A recent study has suggested that the heart’s age for several Americans could be a decade older than their actual age. In the United States, heart disease serves as the leading cause of death, and the research highlights that the heart might be aging faster compared to the rest of the body, Today reported.

How to calculate a heart’s age?

Dr Sadiya Khan, the Magerstadt professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told the news outlet that doctors usually give a percentage to talk about the patient’s risk for a heart-related disease.

Khan, along with her team, conducted a study to get a less abstract and more relatable way through which the risk of heart disease can be conveyed. For this, they worked around the idea of ‘heart age,’ since she said it is “a lot easier to understand”.

Also read: Cardiologist warns: Heart attacks no longer top killer in US, but a silent crisis is growing

As part of their study, the researchers designed a heart age calculator that was based on the criteria set by the American Heart Association. Their work was published in the JAMA Cardiology earlier this week. The Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Events (PREVENT) tool of the American Heart Association tells people about their estimated risk for cardiovascular disease by taking into consideration various information, such as blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol levels, medications, and others.

Taking a step forward, the new study has translated the risk percentages it provides into heart risk “ages,” Today reported. Further, they tested this tool by utilizing data from a nationally representative sample of over 14,000 people, who were in the 30 to 79 age group. Notably, none of them had any history of cardiovascular disease.

Key findings

Sadiya Khan and her team used this data to calculate the heart age of these people and then compared it to their actual chronological ages.

They found out that for many samples, the heart’s risk age stood greater than the chronological age.

The study mentions that men’s heart risk age was found to be seven years older than their chronological age on average. On the other hand, the age gap for women was four years.

Khan said it was “not that meaningful” if the age gap is off by one or two years, but she recommends people stay concerned if this gap is five years or more. Also, the study highlights that the heart age of Black men in the US was 8.5 years older than their chronological age, while it was found to be 6.2 years for white men. Meanwhile, Black women’s hearts were 6.2 years older compared to their actual age, and the gap for white women was found to be 3.7 years.

FAQs

What is a good heart age?

Usually, this is when the heart age remains equal to the person’s chronological age.

How do I determine my heart age?

There are specific tools available online to calculate your heart age.

Can you improve your heart age?

Yes, it is possible. Experts suggest that people bring in healthy lifestyle changes to improve heart age.