Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Study shows that lifestyle changes with respect to alcohol, smoking, diet, exercise, and leisure activities all significantly decrease the risk of heart failure.
Heart failure is a growing public health problem with the continued aging of the U.S. population. It is becoming a leading cause of hospitalizations in those over the age of 65 (1), with 2010 costs to our healthcare system reaching $39.2 billion (2). Because the long-term prognosis for those diagnosed with heart failure remains poor despite significant advances in treatment (3), identifying ways for people to improve their cardiovascular health is of primary importance.
Now a new study (4) suggests that certain lifestyle factors can play significant roles in decreasing heart failure risk. Researchers analyzed 1,380 heart failure cases among 4,490 subjects (1,302 men, 3188 women) with an average age of 72 who were participating in the Cardiovascular Health Study (5). While they found no dietary patterns that affected heart failure risk (p > 0.05), they did find modest alcohol intake (less than 1 drink per week decreased heart failure risk by 23%, p < 0.05), not smoking (29% decreased heart failure risk, p < 0.05) and having a body mass index less than 30 kg/m2 (30% decreased heart failure risk, p < 0.05), to be significant.
In addition, they found specific activity measurements that were associated with heart failure risk:
- Walking Pace; Compared to those walking less than 2 mph with exercising, those walking more than 3 mph had a 26% lower risk of heart failure (p < 0.05)
- Leisure Activity: Compared to those burning less than 845 calories per week, those burning more than 845 calories per week had a 22% decreased risk of heart failure (p < 0.05).
Finally, researchers found that those with at least four healthy lifestyle factors had 45% decreased risk of heart failure compared to those with fewer than four healthy lifestyle factors (p < 0.05).
For the researchers, “adherence to a few modifiable risk factors, including physical activity, limited alcohol use, not smoking, and avoiding obesity, halved the risk of incident heart failure later in life.” And while they acknowledged “overall dietary patterns were not associated with lower heart failure risk in this study,” they still admitted that “adherence to a healthy diet remains crucial for prevention of other cardiometabolic diseases, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease.”
Finally they concluded that “Our results also underscored the importance of further investigating specific dietary determinants, such as sodium, and physical activity type, duration, and frequency in future studies and trials for heart failure prevention among older adults.”
Source: Del Gobbo, Liana C., et al. “Contribution of major lifestyle risk factors for incident heart failure in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study.” JACC: Heart Failure 3.7 (2015): 520-528.
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Posted July 28, 2015.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
- Krumholtz H, Chen Y, Wan Y, Vacarriono V, Radford M, Horwitz R. Predictors of readmission among elderly survivors of admission with heart failure. Am Heart J 2000;139:72–7
- Lloyd-Jones D, Adams RJ, Brown TM. Heart disease and stroke statistics-2010 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2010;121:e1–170
- Goldberg RJ, Ciampa J, Lessard D, Meyer TE, Spencer FA. Long-term survival after heart failure: a contemporary population-based perspective. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:490–6.
- Del Gobbo LC. Contribution of Major Lifestyle Risk Factors for Incident Heart Failure in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study. JACC Heart Fail. 2015 Jul;3(7):520-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2015.02.009
- Fried LP, Borhani NO, Enright P, Furberg CD, et al. Cardiovascular Health Study: design and rationale. Ann Epidemiol 1991;1:263–76
