Sunday, April 11, 2010
Heart Disease Increase in the Young
by Larry Vestal
What are the risk factors associated with strokes? Find out in the next article.
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It was reported in the news recently that strokes are increasing in the young. The percentage of young people between the age of 22 and 45 who had a stroke in 2005 is up 7.3% from 1993 to 1994 when it was only 4.5%. What really seems to be distressing about this,is that many of those who sought medical attention were misdiagnosed. One young 18-year-old who was experiencing numbness in his arm was diagnosed as being intoxicated. The truth of the matter, he was having a stroke. Unfortunately strokes in the young are not as uncommon as once thought.
Heart Disease Begins in Childhood
We now know that heart disease begins in childhood and unfortunately in many Americans it is well advanced by the age of 30. Many aggressive kinds of heart disease occur in individuals who have a total Cholesterol under 200. Autopsies done on soldiers killed in the Korean war revealed that 3 quarters of them had significant atherosclerosis in the arteries of their heart. A Study done on Vietnam casualties revealed much the same but the atherosclerosis was not as severe. You would hope that this study was showing that people were taking better care of themselves.
However another study was done in the 1990's on young people killed by homicide. The findings were depressing. 80 percent of the young people who were of the average age 26 had significant atherosclerotic lesions in their coronary arteries. Recent studies showed that 10 to 30 percent of boys and girls already have coronary arteries that are covered in foam cells. Foam cells are the cells that began the formation of plaque. By age thirty-five 20 to 50% of the surface area of the artery is covered with these foam cells. So what are the risk factors we need to be aware of? What is behind the increase in strokes among the young? Some of the possible reasons for the increase in strokes among young adults are risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, and coronary heart disease. This would suggest that the younger population is not taking care of themselves with regard to their eating habits and lifestyles. An increase in obesity correlates with the higher chances of developing diabetes and heart disease. Of course, diabetes and heart disease are major risk factors for strokes.
Heart Disease Begins in Childhood
We now know that heart disease begins in childhood and unfortunately in many Americans it is well advanced by the age of 30. Many aggressive kinds of heart disease occur in individuals who have a total Cholesterol under 200. Autopsies done on soldiers killed in the Korean war revealed that 3 quarters of them had significant atherosclerosis in the arteries of their heart. A Study done on Vietnam casualties revealed much the same but the atherosclerosis was not as severe. You would hope that this study was showing that people were taking better care of themselves.
However another study was done in the 1990's on young people killed by homicide. The findings were depressing. 80 percent of the young people who were of the average age 26 had significant atherosclerotic lesions in their coronary arteries. Recent studies showed that 10 to 30 percent of boys and girls already have coronary arteries that are covered in foam cells. Foam cells are the cells that began the formation of plaque. By age thirty-five 20 to 50% of the surface area of the artery is covered with these foam cells. So what are the risk factors we need to be aware of? What is behind the increase in strokes among the young? Some of the possible reasons for the increase in strokes among young adults are risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, and coronary heart disease. This would suggest that the younger population is not taking care of themselves with regard to their eating habits and lifestyles. An increase in obesity correlates with the higher chances of developing diabetes and heart disease. Of course, diabetes and heart disease are major risk factors for strokes.
Lower your Blood Pressure Naturally ! Click Here!