The Washington Post: Is Your Heart Aging Faster Than You?
The Washington Post recently interviewed Martha Gulati, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, about a heart-age calculator—a new online tool that estimates the biological age of an individual’s heart compared with their chronological age. The tool arrives amid growing interest in organ-aging tests.
The calculator uses an individual’s health measures, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, to estimate their heart’s biological age. Researchers developed the tool to help patients better understand their risk for cardiovascular disease.
“It’s a way to communicate risk that will resonate with some people,” said Gulati, who was not involved in the calculator’s development.
Although clinicians have used health data to predict cardiovascular disease risks for decades, the new tool is more user-friendly and simply states whether a user’s heart is older, younger or the same age as their chronological age. For individuals whose hearts are five years older than their chronological age, experts recommend seeking medical care for potential interventions such as medication or lifestyle changes.
Gulati told The Washington Post, however, that the calculator does not account for certain factors—such as the increased cardiovascular risks women may face during pregnancy complications or menopause. Despite the calculator’s inability to capture the nuances of each patient’s condition, Gulati said the tool could be a valuable tactic in alerting users to start paying attention to their health.
“But if it helps to motivate a patient to make changes, I’m here for it.”
Read the complete article from The Washington Post.