Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Online Tool Predicts Heart Disease Events in Young Adults
Clinical Breakthroughs

Online Tool Predicts Heart Disease Events in Young Adults

By Anna WilliamsAug 28, 2017
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, senior associate dean for Clinical and Translational Research and chair of Preventive Medicine, has been inducted into the Association of American Physicians.
Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research and chair of Preventive Medicine, was a senior author of the study.

An online calculator using lifestyle metrics showed initial success at predicting the risk of heart disease events among young, healthy adults, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Donald Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research and chair of Preventive Medicine, was a senior author of the study.

The Healthy Heart Score (HHS), a free, web-site tool developed by Harvard investigators, allows individuals to assess their risk of heart disease by answering simple questions about nine key lifestyle factors, such as weight, smoking habits, exercise and diet.

The tool was developed for and validated in middle-age and older adults, however, and had never been assessed in young, healthy adults — a group that could potentially benefit most from early prevention measures.

“We were very interested in understanding how lifestyle — and this particular score that encompasses healthy lifestyles — might be useful in younger people to help us predict whether there might be the onset of early heart attacks and strokes,” said Lloyd-Jones, also director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS) and a professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology.

In the study, the team of investigators used data from healthy adults 18 to 30 years old who had been included in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study to calculate the Healthy Heart Score of each individual.

They discovered that overall, HHS performed moderately well at estimating the 25-year risk for premature cardiovascular events — such as heart attack and stroke — in this group of young, healthy adults. In particular, the tool was most accurate when performed in men, white participants and those who did not have any heart disease risk factors — such as diabetes or hypertension — at baseline.

The hope is that the HHS might now serve as a valuable tool for young adults to gauge their risk of heart disease and if necessary, make appropriate changes.

“This is a tool that physicians and a patient could use together, or a patient on their own, to understand what about their lifestyle is contributing to some risk,” Lloyd-Jones said. “That should then hopefully start a conversation about what might be successful strategies to improve their lifestyle now to help avoid some of these later complications.”

Lloyd-Jones, also the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research, added that the personalized, interactive nature of the HHS might make it particularly impactful.

“With the score, you get a more personalized sense of what your risk is — rather than just generic advice about eating well and moving more,” he said. “This helps to make more concrete the risk that is associated with these health behaviors, and hopefully helps to spur the behavior change that we’re looking to see in our patients.”

In future research, the investigators plan to assess whether there might be a critical time period when it is most crucial to rectify health behaviors, as well as examine how to best implement the Healthy Heart Score in clinical practice.

The study was also co-authored by Norrina Allen, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Epidemiology and Hongyan Ning, MD, MS, statistical analyst in the Department of Preventive Medicine.

The research was supported by award K23HL122361-01A1 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH); by the NHLBI in collaboration with awards HHSN268201300025C and HHSN268201300026C from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, award HHSN268201300027C from Northwestern University, award HHSN268201300028C from the University of Minnesota, award HHSN268201300029C from the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, and award HHSN268200900041C from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults [CARDIA] study); and by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and intra-agency agreement AG0005 between the NIA and NHLBI (CARDIA study).

Cardiology Health and Lifestyle Preventive Medicine Public Health Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Predicting Risk of Blood Clots in Brain Tumors

Mar 16, 2023

Understanding How Exercise Induces Systemic Metabolic Benefits

Mar 15, 2023

Lieber Receives VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Award 

Mar 13, 2023

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Celebrating Feinberg’s 2023 Match Day

Mar 17, 2023

Predicting Risk of Blood Clots in Brain Tumors

Mar 16, 2023

Understanding How Exercise Induces Systemic Metabolic Benefits

Mar 15, 2023

Future Directions in Continuing Medical Education

Mar 14, 2023

Lieber Receives VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Award 

Mar 13, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
_5NM1245
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_0928
_5NM1715
_5NM0526
_5NM1026 (1)
_5NM1906
_5NM2173
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_0896
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_1113
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_1868
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_1237
230204_SERIO_MANDELL_Feinberg_Formal_1172

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.