In recent developments to help assess cardiac health, tracking heart age has become crucial in early detection of potential problems. Dr. Pankaj Garg, MD, PhD, stresses the need for continuous monitoring and real-world evaluation of cardiac health. This simple practice prevents dangerous heart disease from worsening. His research employs cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to unlock new, critical understandings. Among his most recent findings are the dramatic differences between the heart’s functional age and its chronological age.
In a groundbreaking study, Dr. Garg discovered a simple mathematical formula that leverages MRI scans to determine the heart’s “true” age. In this study, researchers analyzed data from 169 healthy participants. What they discovered was that the heart age calculated from cardiac MRI was, on average, almost five years older than their actual chronological age. This inequity is especially acute among people living with obesity or other chronic conditions.
Participants with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above scored the worst, an alarming outcome. Their functional heart ages were almost 45 years older than their chronological age. This telling difference highlights the importance of timely intervention and lifestyle changes to stop the progression of heart health before it’s too late.
Dr Garg said, “What we’ve found is that we can take an easy math equation. This formula takes a heart MRI movies to figure out how old your heart appears.” For healthy people, their heart age is equal to their chronological age. If a person has risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, irregular heartbeat, or obesity, their heart ages faster. On average, it makes her appear at least 4.6 years older. For individuals who were coronarily obese, their hearts appeared up to 45 years older!
Our study was unique in its inclusion of 557 total participants. This combined group included 191 healthy adults as a reference and included 366 total participants with at least one comorbidity. Researchers found that high blood pressure and diabetes significantly increased the functional heart age of participants. This effect was shown most dramatically among those from 30-69 years of age. The effect was strongest in the 40-49 age group with diabetes.
Dr. Patrick Kee, MD, PhD, coauthor on the study, acknowledged the limitations of the study. He emphasized in particular that the study failed to account for duration of comorbidities among participants. He mentioned that the model has been through initial validation on a limited cohort. To validate its reliability and robustness for clinical use, it requires larger-scale validation. It remains an open question whether interventions with lifestyle changes and heart failure therapies can change heart age. This uncertainty is due to the nature of the pre-existing medical conditions.
Despite these limitations, Dr. Kee reinforced the positive implications of being able to determine functional heart age via imaging or alternative biomarkers. He stated, “By comparing a patient’s ‘functioning heart age’ with their ‘chronological age,’ clinicians can effectively communicate ‘cardiovascular risk’ to encourage lifestyle and therapeutic modifications.”
Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, who was a member of the co-authoring team, honored the study’s methodologies and findings. He firmly believes that cardiac MRI scans can play a critical role in early detection of heart disease. He remarked, “An assessment of a ‘functional heart age’ can potentially motivate patients to improve their lifestyles, identify patients at risk for future clinical events, and possibly even evaluate response to clinical therapeutics and interventions.”
Cardiac MRI scans are noninvasive procedures that only take a few minutes to determine overall heart health. Dr. Garg stressed that these tests can be administered quickly, seamlessly, and with great impact. This helps healthcare providers identify potential problems earlier, before they develop into more serious conditions such as heart failure.
“Heart MRI scans are completely noninvasive tests—meaning no cuts or needles—and for checking the heart age, only a few minutes of this test are required. If necessary, this can be done in a focused way to help lots of people quickly. That might help catch heart trouble early and stop bigger problems, like heart failure, later on.” – Pankaj Garg, MD, PhD
The study’s findings suggest that monitoring heart age could serve as a tangible measure for motivating patients toward preventive strategies such as weight management and controlling blood pressure and diabetes. By tracking those changes over time, healthcare providers can have the information they need to proactively adjust treatment plans.
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