Ageing is a natural process – it is an undeniable fact that as we grow older every day. In our lifespan, especially during older age, we face a lot of medical problems that we can’t evade from. One of the most important risks that we develop with growing age is the risk of getting heart diseases.
What is Heart Disease?
It is very important to know what all heart-related diseases a person can get with ageing. Also one needs to know what all things can be done to evade from all these problems and so on. Heart disease is generally caused due to the general buildup of plaques or we can say the fatty deposits in one’s body.
These deposits start to develop on the walls of the coronary arteries over the years. In medical language, this process is known as atherosclerosis. If you are not acquainted with what coronary arteries are; they are the arteries that surround the outside of our heart. Its work is to regularly supply oxygen and blood nutrients to the heart muscles. But over years, when fatty deposits start to develop on these arteries it eventually blocks or constricts the oxygen and nutrient supply to the heart.
Due to the buildup of this plaque or in some cases when this plaque ruptures suddenly; people start to experience pain, discomfort and some times, heart attack. When the heart does not get enough blood nutrients and oxygen, its cells start to get weak which results in weakening the heart or death. This happens because the ability of the heart to pump blood to our entire body reduces.
Does Heart Change with Age?
Surely, just like any other body part, the heart also starts to age with time and a few things change inside a heart. This ageing can cause some changes to the blood vessels as well. One of the changes that can be very well felt by the person is that the heart rate slows down when the personages. In your older days, even if you indulge in sports or activity your heart rate is slower than what it used to be during your younger days. But there is no reason for anyone to worry about it because the heart rate does not change drastically. In addition to this; fatty deposits may build-up in the walls of arteries over years which may become a major cause of heart disease.
One of the most common changes owning to ageing is the stiffness of the arteriosclerosis (the larger arteries of the heart). In some cases, most of the major heart arteries start to harden up. Due to this the person frequently experiences hypertension. And hypertension is nothing else but high blood pressure which is insanely usual in older ages.
Is Age a Risk Factor for Heart Disease?
With developments that have happened in recent time in the field of modern medicine. Doctors have come up with new treatments for heart-related problems which have declined mortality. In the past few years, with the help of technology doctors have found out that about 75% to 90% of heart diseases are developed due to numerous factors other than age. These include other non-modifiable factors like gender, ethnicity & family medical history, and modifiable lifestyle & diet factors. This also includes decreased physical activity with more of sedentary office work, and an unhealthy diet with less fibre, vegetables and fruits. If you are a regular smoker or drinker then tobacco and alcohol also add up to the problems you face related to the heart. Tobacco and alcohol contribute to high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes which in turn are major risk factors for heart disease.
There are several risk screening tolls and scores that allow physicians to evaluate the risks that heart diseases can cause to any individual. Some of the best and commonly used screening tools that are available in the market include the Framingham Risk Score and the Reynolds Risk Score.
In India, Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals launched the first-ever AI-powered Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score API in August 2018. This has been designed specifically to predict the risk of heart disease in the Indian population.
Age and Other Risk Factors – The Correlation
After discussing almost everything about heart diseases we now know that the age factor is not the only thing that threatens a person to have heart diseases. Rather it is an accumulation of various factors as we grow older in life that affects our heart. But there is another thing that needs to be answered here and that is; “If we avoid all the other risk factors will it reduce the risk of having any heart disease due to age?”
Answering this question is not difficult because we understand that the risk of developing heart disease does not have a linear correlation with age. We all know that the risk of getting any heart-related disease remains the same throughout life.
Age of an individual does affect the evaluation of short term as well as long term risk of heart disease. It is understandable that if a young and an old person has the same risk factor such as smoking or drinking the younger one will have a lower short-term risk of developing heart disease as compared to the older individual.
Studies have also indicated that during the absence of a traditional risk factor the risk of heart disease reduces even at an older age. At an older age, the contribution of age as a risk factor for heart disease reduces because there is less time for the other risk factors to come into play. Therefore, this is a fact that risks associated with age can be minimized either by avoiding or modifying other factors causing risks. So, if any person successfully modifies the other factors the risk of getting any heart disease reduces to minimal.
The Bottom Line
The conclusion is that screening for all the risk factors and advice about modifying and managing risk factors should start early. Doing this will allow the person to reduce any risk of heart disease. Also, it should carry out regularly after the age of 40 years. At least until the time someone discovers the elixir of life to make us stay young forever!
To know more about the “Heart Disease Symptoms and Treatment”, watch the below mentioned video by Dr. Rajeev Kumar Rajput, from Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.
