99% heart attacks linked to these 4 common risk factors
A massive new study shows that over 99% of first-time heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure cases are linked to just four things: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and tobacco use.
Researchers looked at health data from more than 9 million adults in South Korea and the US over up to 20 years.
Nearly everyone had at least 1 risk factor
The numbers are eye-opening—almost everyone who had a major heart event had at least one of these risks, and most had two or more.
High blood pressure was the most common culprit by far; smoking was the least common but still mattered.
Even younger women aren't off the hook
Surprisingly, over 95% of women under 60 who experienced heart issues also had at least one of these four risks.
As senior author Dr. Philip Greenland put it, "We think the study shows very convincingly that exposure to one or more nonoptimal risk factors before these cardiovascular outcomes is nearly 100%."
This challenges old ideas that heart attacks can come out of nowhere—turns out almost all cases have a clear cause.