Your heart could be celebrating its 60th birthday while you’re still blowing out 50 candles. A new study suggests that most Americans face this age gap, which significantly increases their risk of heart attack and stroke.
The findings also show that this difference is more pronounced among men, black or Hispanic people, and those with lower incomes or education levels.
Disparities Across Demographics
The study, published in JAMA Cardiology and based on data from more than 14,000 U.S. adults age 30 to 79 with no previous history of heart disease, revealed significant differences in heart age gaps across racial and ethnic groups.
The research found that the average woman has a “heart age” that is 4.1 years older than her actual age. The average age of the women in the study was 51.3 years, with an average heart age of 55.4 years. For men, the disparity was even starker: The average heart age of male participants was 56.7 years while their average chronological age was just 49.7—an average gap of seven years.
Black men were found to have a heart age 8 1/2 years older than their actual age. Hispanic men followed closely with a gap of 7.9 years, while white men had a gap of 6.4 years and Asian men a gap of 6.7 years.
Among men with a high school education or less, nearly one-third had a heart age more than 10 years older than their real age, with the difference even greater among adults who were black or Hispanic.
Among women, the pattern persisted but with smaller gaps.
Black women’s hearts were 6.2 years older than their chronological age, while Hispanic women’s were 4.8 years older. Researchers also found that for white women, the gap was 3.7 years, and for Asian women, 2.8 years.
A New Way to Evaluate Heart Risk
Researchers developed a free online tool that determines “heart age” based on routine health information such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking status, and diabetes. The tool translates traditional cardiovascular risk percentages into an age that patients can easily understand and relate to.
“I see ‘heart age’ as a helpful addition to the way we talk about risk,” Dr. Neil D. Shah, a cardiologist at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at North Shore University Hospital in New York state and not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times. “The data behind it is strong, and it could help reach people who otherwise underestimate their cardiovascular risk.”
“Heart age” represents what your cardiovascular risk would look like if it were a person’s actual age. It tells you how healthy your heart is compared with a healthy person of a certain age who has no heart disease.
If your heart age is higher than your actual age, it means that your current risk factors give you the same likelihood of developing heart disease as a healthy person—with normal cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and other markers—who is older than you.
For example, if you are 40 but have a heart age of 50, you have the same heart disease risk as a typical 50-year-old with ideal health factors.
The researchers updated an older risk calculation method, originally from the Framingham Heart Study, to work with newer, more comprehensive risk equations called Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease EVENTs, which the American Heart Association now recommends.
However, researchers emphasized that the calculator is not a replacement for medical care and should be used alongside a doctor’s advice. Shah agreed.
“We still need to consider family history, social factors, and other risks,” he said. “And while it’s promising, we still have to show that this approach leads to better outcomes over time.”
Easier to Understand Results
The researchers said their approach addresses a key challenge in preventive medicine: making abstract risk statistics feel immediate and actionable.
Traditionally, doctors have assessed heart disease risk as a percentage, such as “eight out of 100 people with your profile may have a heart event in the next 10 years,” but the new calculator instead translates that risk into an age, making it easier for patients to understand.
When we talk about “10-year risk,” many people hear it as something distant or abstract, Shah said.
“Framing risk as a ‘heart age’ makes it feel immediate and personal,” he said. “If someone learns their heart is 10 years older than they are, it’s a wake-up call.”
A 35-year-old might ignore hearing that he has “low 10-year risk” even if his long-term cardiovascular risk is high, according to Shah.
“Showing them that their heart is already a decade ‘older’ can make the risk feel real and open the door to preventive care,” he said.
Why It Matters Now
Even with major gains in public health, for more than a century, heart disease has remained the leading cause of death in the United States, partly because many adults who could benefit from preventive care still aren’t getting it, senior study author Sadiya Khan, professor of medicine and a cardiovascular epidemiologist, said in a statement.
“Many people who should be on medicine to lower their risk for heart attack, stroke, or heart failure are not on these medications,” she said. “We hope this new heart age calculator will help support discussions about prevention and ultimately improve health for all people.”
Khan also noted the potential for the calculator to encourage earlier intervention, especially among younger people who might not think about their heart health.
She and her team plan to study whether presenting risk using heart age improves health outcomes and increases awareness of the need for preventive treatment.
