Cardiovascular risk assessment tools like QRISK®3 provide two critical insights: your 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk percentage and your "Healthy Heart Age." This second metric often surprises people – how can a 45-year-old have the heart age of a 60-year-old? Let's break down the science behind this.
The Two Faces of Heart Health
Using the QRISK®3 tool we can think of two versions of your heart’s age:
- Chronological Age
- Your actual age in years which reflects your fixed biological timeline
- This is influenced by things like your sex, ethnicity, and family history which you can’t change. We call these your “non-modifiable risk factors”
- Healthy Heart Age
- The age at which someone with optimised risk factors would have your CVD risk profile
- This is influenced by things you can control, like your lifestyle and health habits. We call these your “modifiable risk factors”
Key Drivers of Accelerated Heart Aging
There are 2 groups of modifiable risk factors which can lead to your heart aging quicker than your chronological age.
Lifestyle Factors
- Smoking can add 5-15 "heart years" by damaging blood vessels and increasing atherosclerosis risk
- Physical inactivity contributes to:
- Higher BMI (each 5 kg/m² increase can add ≈3 heart years)
- Poor cholesterol ratios (TC:HDL >6 can add ≈8 heart years)
- Poor diet leads to dyslipidemia and poor cholesterol ratios
Metabolic Health Factors
- Obesity (BMI ≥30) can add to your heart years
- Diabetes accelerates vascular aging, but this impact is reduced when your blood glucose levels are well controlled
- High Blood Pressure can add ≈7 heart years due to increased arterial stiffness, although controlled high blood pressure is much better than uncontrolled
There is also a group of non-modifiable risk factors which can lead to your heart aging quicker than your chronological age. You can’t change these, but it does help to know about them, as you might choose to focus more on managing your modifiable risk factors.
Genetic & Environmental Factors
- Family history of premature CVD can add ≈5 heart years
- Deprivation (measured by Townsend score) can add 3-8 heart years
- Ethnicity impacts risk profiles (for example, South Asian heritage can add ≈4 heart years)
The Reversibility Factor
The research we have done has showed that people who have completed a PocDoc test and seen these results have worked on their modifiable risks when they knew how it impacted their Healthy Heart Age.
What could this mean for me?
Well let’s say you are a 50-year-old smoker with a BMI 32 and TC:HDL ratio 5.5. Your results could look like this:
- Actual age: 50
- Heart age: 63
- 10-year CVD risk: 15%
After 12 weeks of lifestyle intervention:
- Quit smoking
- Reduced BMI to 28
- Improved TC:HDL to 4
- New heart age: 55
In just 3 months you could have made a significant impact on your Health Heart Age!
Why This Matters?
We know that when people understand the “so what” from their data, they know where to target their time and energy, which goes a long way to improving their Heart Health, which is what we are all about at PocDoc!
If your Healthy Heart Age doesn’t match your actual age, take a look at what you can do to change your modifiable risk factors and make a start on getting your Heart Age where you want it to be.
For technical queries on the PocDoc test please e-mail support@mypocdoc.com
As a healthcare technology company we are unable to provide individual medical advice so for queries relating to your health please contact your GP or other healthcare provider.
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