Five risk factors account for approximately 50% of the global burden of cardiovascular disease. A large-scale meta-analysis involving over two million participants from 133 cohorts in 39 countries reveals that: Eliminating the five classic risk factors - high blood pressure, hyperlipidaemia, smoking, diabetes, and being underweight or overweight - by the age of 50 is associated with an additional decade of life without cardiovascular disease or death. On average, women without these risk factors lived 13.3 years longer without cardiovascular disease, and men lived 10.6 years longer. Reducing risk factors later in life, particularly hypertension and smoking in middle age, also has a life-prolonging effect.
Link to the Publication: Global effect of cardiovascular risk factors on lifetime estimates (Magnussen et al., N Engl J Med, 2025)
Link to the News: How risk factors affect lifespan
