Anti-Aging Lifestyle Reduces Risks of Sudden Death

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for more than 50% of coronary heart disease mortality, with SCD  often being the first manifestation of CHD in women. In that previous studies have suggested that several modifiable lifestyle factors are associated with SCD, Stephanie E. Chiuve, from Harvard School of Public Health (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues examined the individual and cumulative impact of these factors on SCD risk in participants in the Nurses’ Health Study.   Their analysis included 81,722 women, ages 30 to 55 at enrollment, who completed lifestyle questionnaires every two to four years, beginning in 1984. The team defined a “low-risk lifestyle” as no smoking, body mass index (BMI) less than 25, at least 30 minutes of exercise daily, and top 40% of the alternate Mediterranean diet score – emphasizing the consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and fish, and moderate alcohol intake. During the 26 years of follow-up, 321 SCD events occurred, involving women whose median age was 72 at the time of the incident. Women who adhered to the “low-risk lifestyle” had as much as a 90% reduction in the risk of SCD, as compared with those with a high-risk profile.  Compared with women with none of the low-risk attributes, the risk of SCD declined linearly as the number of these attributes increased, ranging from a 46% reduction for a woman who had one to 92% for those who had all four.  Observing that about 80% of attributable risk for SCD was associated with the four lifestyle factors included in the analysis, the researchers conclude that: “Adherence to a low-risk lifestyle is associated with a low risk of [sudden cardiac death].”