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Science

Heart Attacks Are Rising in Young Adults 194

National Geographic: Research does show that heart attacks, also called myocardial infarctions, are on the rise in younger people. Common symptoms include chest pain or discomfort; pain that radiates into the jaw, neck, back or arms; shortness of breath; and feeling weak or faint. A study of more than 2,000 young adults admitted for heart attack between 2000 and 2016 in two U.S. hospitals found that 1 in 5 were 40 years old or younger -- and that the proportion of this group has been increasing by 2 percent each year for the last decade.

The study, published in 2019 in the American Journal of Medicine, also found that people ages 40 or younger who have had a heart attack are just as likely as older adults to die from another heart attack, stroke, or other reason. In fact, increases in heart disease among younger adults in 2020 and 2021 are responsible for more than 4 percent of the most recent declines in life expectancy in the U.S., according to an editorial published in March in JAMA Network. The problem isn't uniquely American. Research shows that adults in Pakistan and India, for example, are also experiencing heart attacks at younger ages.
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Heart Attacks Are Rising in Young Adults

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  • My endocrinologist is Indian and is always on about this, the frequency of heart disease in India and amongst people of that ancestry. Lots of fatty food. She herself is a vegetarian and rail-thin. Anywho, some statins are more readily available from the Indian market than here in the US, at least more cheaply, probably for that reason.

    • My endocrinologist is Indian and is always on about this, the frequency of heart disease in India and amongst people of that ancestry. Lots of fatty food. She herself is a vegetarian and rail-thin. Anywho, some statins are more readily available from the Indian market than here in the US, at least more cheaply, probably for that reason.

      Indians eat a designated diet.

  • by TJHook3r ( 4699685 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @02:26PM (#63754020)
    Seeing as the article is paywalled I'll speculate that air pollution or cocaine are two culprits
  • At least with that timeframe, that can't go blaming it on the COVID vaccine.

    • But it *might* be a combination of Covid itself (which in milder form, has been around, complete with spike protiens, since the 1960s) and obesity (which fits the time frame)

      • But it *might* be a combination of Covid itself (which in milder form, has been around, complete with spike protiens, since the 1960s) and obesity (which fits the time frame)

        It's possible that Covid-19 had an additional effect on heart attacks in young people. However, this study does not at all support that idea. Indeed, it has no comment whatsoever on that idea since the study data completely predates Covid-19. Perhaps you are suggesting that Covid-19 has similar effects on heart attacks compared to other coronaviruses, but that's a huge stretch that needs to be supported, especially since the effects of Covid-19 have been markedly different in many ways to other coronavir

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        There's quite a bit of evidence that the Russian Flu pandemic of 1889 was Covid.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    • Don't worry, I'm sure the data will bear all of that out in due course.
    • At least with that timeframe, that can't go blaming it on the COVID vaccine.

      Well, the summary also does also say this:

      In fact, increases in heart disease among younger adults in 2020 and 2021 are responsible for more than 4 percent of the most recent declines in life expectancy in the U.S., according to an editorial published in March in JAMA Network.

      And that does put it well within the covid vaccines which HAVE been shown some connection to young people, especially males having increased cases of heart

      • And that does put it well within the covid vaccines which HAVE been shown some connection to young people, especially males having increased cases of heart problems.

        I'm not saying it is the cause by itself, BUT it seems since the pandemic hit, it may be contributing to extra problems on top of those being seen prior to it.

        You don't think not leaving the house for months might have had something to do with it?

        I'm going to suggest that accounts for pretty much all of the uptick. People went from sedentary to positively sessile.

        • Everywhere I know of that had strict lockdowns and masking rules had exemptions for vigorous exercise or similar. So people were always allowed out of their house, unmasked, to go for a run, vigorous bike ride etc. If people got fat, it's not because they were confined to their homes by an oppressive government.... and even if that WAS the case, they still could have run up and down the stairs, climbed up and down a milk crate, lifted heavy things, done sit-ups.... It's really not that hard to move around a

    • Not to worry, they'll claim that the polio vaccine given to their great-grandparents manifests epigenetically unto the Nth generation.

      (The latest conspiracy theory appears to be that polio elimination was due to DDT elimination, and not due to the vaccine...alas for humanity).

      • The latest conspiracy theory appears to be that polio elimination was due to DDT elimination, and not due to the vaccine

        So switching to EVs should cure malaria. This is too easy once you know how it works.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      But vaccine microchips have micro-DeLoreans, my Ivermectin supplier told me.

    • Since COVID is a vascular disease spread via respiratory means and we've seen multiple outbreaks of coronaviruses via SARS and MERS in that time frame, im not sure thats necessarily and accurate conclusion.
  • by guardiangod ( 880192 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @02:41PM (#63754078)

    As the article said. last week Lebron James (the most famous basketball player in the world)'s teenage son collapsed on the court and suffered this.

    Aside from all the cretins that crawl out and claim vaccine, this study shows that this is endemic even before covid, and that you could have the best diet in the world, with the best doctors looking after you, and exercise everyday, and still get heart attacks.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      > Aside from all the cretins that crawl out and claim vaccine [caused it] ...

      USA is also experiencing more conspiracy addiction, which just may be as problematic is heart problems. Conspiranuts already attempted a coup, I mean "assertive tourism".

      Is it lack of education, or brainwashing, or both? Even my parents get snagged, and they are not heavy internet surfers.

    • Chemical exposure along with increased weight gain are likely the cause. Oh, chemicals are in food as well; but what is in the air and water changes slightly over time depending on what industrial processes we fail to manage safely. Decades of time go bye before it's even "controversial" and then more before it's starting to be blamed and banned officially.

      Remember leaded gas and how long that took despite common sense of generations... we had to prove it guilty like it was a person. We never error on th

      • Chemicals have been in your food for many generations. If anything, things have improved on that front.

        The main difference in life between you, your parents, and your grandparents is the information age. If you're old enough to remember life before the internet, it profoundly changed our lives and the level of stimulation as well as stress and insomnia. That is a massive change that leads to stress, which leads to cardiac arrest. Chemicals are probably not innocent, but environmental regulations hav
    • by znrt ( 2424692 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @03:11PM (#63754170)

      this study shows (...) that you could have the best diet in the world, with the best doctors looking after you, and exercise everyday

      all their abstract says is: younger patients had similar risk factors except increased substance abuse (i would expect that), and lower hypertension (that too, since it comes with age), and had similar mortality/complication rate over a 11 years period. also note: these were all patients who already came in with a heart attack. this is not general population.

      how you go from there to some form of endemic disease that is impervious to eating healthy and exercising properly is my guess. the abstract doesn't say any of this. if you have read the (paywalled) study, could you just telegraphically outline the data that supports this claim? tia.

      • Yeah, the paywalls here are pretty egregious. But the third link is available. But it has the opposite conclusion of the post you are replying to - the increase is attributed to increasing risk factors like obesity, hypertension and diabetes among younger age groups. So no, this is not about healthy, fit people having heart attacks, it is about people 40ish and under being less healthy by other objective measures, and therefore having more heart attacks. You are right that the second link doesn't seem t
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      I'd be curious to see if the rate of 'young people heart attacks' has increased since covaids and/or vaccination, overall, due to the fact that heart failure (via myocarditis) -has- gone up significantly, and -is- caused by the vaccines (spike proteins, at least).

      No conspiracy necessary, Pfizer as much as admits it now. It's public knowledge/Science(tm).

      • by skam240 ( 789197 )

        "Significantly"? Cite your data.

      • by Xenna ( 37238 )

        I agree that the pandemic is the first place to look. But it seems obvious that the virus is a much more likely culprit than the vaccine. Research shows a large difference in risk.

        People motivated by distrust in science and government are eager to point the finger at vaccines.

        I'm not one of them.

  • by AmazingRuss ( 555076 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @02:55PM (#63754128)
    ...also makes you tend to overeat.
    • by Somervillain ( 4719341 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @03:44PM (#63754276)

      ...also makes you tend to overeat.

      I think you're on to something. The major factor about today vs previous generations is that in the information age, we consume more information in 1 year than we did in 10 last century. While not everyone is ravenous for information, most people in my circles are. They're online reading constantly. Stupid gym bros know more about microbiology and nutrition than my college biochemistry professors did. I've met gym meatheads and martial arts buffs, with blue collar jobs (vs the health/biotech field) who know more about mitochondria than professors did in the late 90s when I was taking biochemistry classes in college. They seem to know a lot more about the nuances of metabolism than my actual PCP doctor does. Why? They're online constantly reading papers, podcasts, articles, watching videos, etc. Anyone can be a scholar. Most serious fans today know more about the movie industry than university film scholars in the 90s. The internet is a bottomless source of information, entertainment, knowledge, and stimulation.

      That's the positive, the negative is that I don't think our brains were built for this level of knowledge. I think this is stressful. I think we get too much stimulation and it wears down our endocrine system. Most professionals I know work 8h. Then even when waiting in line, they're on their phone either socializing or reading...then they're watching TV while either playing a game or reading or socializing. We're constantly stimulated. We're never bored. Most people I know won't even walk home without listening to a podcast or even reading (which I'm surprised they haven't been hit by a car yet...my neighbor is constantly reading his e-mails while walking his dog).

      Most of us also have a device which alerts us 24/7 of any work e-mails or messages, in our pocket. Our source of entertainment prompts us any time our boss e-mails us. My watch vibrates late at night every time someone in India or Europe has a question. Even though I tell them I'll answer them during business hours, it's still a tiny bit stressful telling work "not now." I'd have less stress if I stopped thinking about work on weekends and after 6.

      I am thriving because I take active steps to reduce stimulation and have a work/life balance. I also workout heavily daily and eat health food like a psychopath...

      ...but yeah, I can see why people are having heart attacks younger. We're not designed for this level of stimulation, learning, nor never having any downtime nor limitation in the amount of stimulation we can receive. I don't think it's common knowledge or practice for white collar professionals to disconnect after work hours and limit stimulation and learning and take time to properly relax, disconnected.

  • The study was published in 2019. Why is NatGeo discussing it now?

  • Multiple studies have shown that there's around a 1.5 - 2 fold increase in the risks of experiencing heart attacks or strokes more than 30 days after a COVID infection. https://erictopol.substack.com... [substack.com] Later studies have found vaccinated people's risk is about half that of the unvaccinated. The exact odds will likely change with different studies and changing conditions, but COVID infections can have long lasting impacts on your health.
  • Please don't post links to paywalled sites like NG

  • So, my (M/54) story.

    In Summer of 2017, a friend passed from cancer. A few weeks later was his memorial, and I took a few hours off from work to attend it. Before heading out, my boss asked me to haul a rotating display rack down from the loft. I was pissed, because on an already depressing day, now I had to deal with pulling an upper back muscle on top of everything else. It ached just like when I pulled a back muscle in high school, which I never forgot. I knew it would be with me a while, just as it was then. Man, my boss was a see you next tuesday.

    I headed to the memorial, and, despite doing the standard stretching, twisting, and self-kneading to ease it, the pain would not give. The memorial event was over-attended (he was a great guy) for the venue size, and I arrived too late to get a seat indoors. So, I sat outside with the dozen or so other mourners, in the afternoon summer sun. And I could NOT f#cking get rid of the muscle pain. My brain started unconsciously doing certain calculations and comparisons, and it suddenly occurred to me that this might be a cardiac issue. So, I sat there, in a growing panic, while formulating my next steps: I would leave to head back to work (and air conditioning, which my car did not have), and maybe eat something. Yeah, that was it! I needed AC and food! So, I had some food and chilled in the AC at work, where the symptoms gradually eased and eventually went away.

    One week later, I was getting ready for bed, and I got the same pain. Then, I also had other symptoms that I didn't associate with heart attacks, so I was damned confused. Therefore, I consulted Dr. Google, and I was reading symptoms on some hospital websites. They all seemed to have the same info (not entirely matching mine), until I got to the last one before heading to the ER. Yes, it had ALL the same damned symptoms listed, but, at the bottom of the page, it said that women have certain different symptoms, and I thought it must suck for women, because medicine is weighted for men, which means female symptoms get short shrift. Being naturally a curious minded individual, I read the ladies' reported rare symptoms.

    Match.

    A tiny voice--a tiny, toxic masculine voice--in my head, said, "but, Paul, you aren't a chick! Don't fail your balls!" And, after the slightest hesitation, I said back, "fuck you, you toxic little shit, but fuck you LATER, because I gotta get to the ER now."

    In short, I was having about the worst heart attack you can have. It is usually fatal as fucking fuck, which is why they call it the "widow maker." I honestly would be dead right now, had I dismissed the reported female symptoms to protect my masculinity. Thank god I had the sense to just run with the info and go to the ER. I woke up in ICU to the beautiful feeling of morphine being injected in my arm, but otherwise feeling like someone had parked a Cooper Mini on me. Three days in hospital, and a few weeks before I could sleep on my side again. 0/10, would not recommend.

    So, men: the most important advice I can give you from this experience is kill that toxic masculinity fucker in your head and throw him aside. If I had felt my balls threatened because I couldn't accept that my symptoms weren't all GUY symptoms, then I would be dead (or, rather, still dead, as they broke my ribs and shocked me back into this plane of existence).

    [Related: I now can honestly quote one of my favorite Spock lines, in times of trouble: "I've been dead before." It always gives me a kick.]

    • Statistically men are 70% to 89% more likely to experience heart attack than women. Men get breast cancer too, but you don't hear much about that....
    • by skam240 ( 789197 )

      Are you serious here? How is assuming something that is both rare and primarily happens to women isnt happening to you, a man, toxic masculinity? All it is is playing the odds.

      You sound ridiculous.

      • I may, but you sound like a petulant child. Your contribution to the discussion is bad, and you should feel bad.

        Reviewing some of your other comments, yeah, I peg you at about 12. Go home, your mom is calling.

        • by skam240 ( 789197 )

          Oh, I get it. You're an idiot who can't even defend the very dumb thing they said so you're going to personal attacks.

          Nice high ground down there.

  • Thin Man (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tempest_2084 ( 605915 ) on Wednesday August 09, 2023 @05:08PM (#63754498)
    It's interesting to see what was considered morbidly obese 80 or so years ago compared to what it takes to meet that threshold today. My wife and I were watching The Thin Man (1934) and when they were describing the clothes they found on the body of the fat man they found they said he was probably 250 pounds and about 5'10". They were going on about how they found a cane with the body which didn't surprise them given how much weight he was carrying around. They basically implied he was so fat that he would have stood out and been crippled. That really hit home since I'm 6'2" and 255 pounds. Yeah I'm fat, but I don't think anyone would call me morbidly obese or so fat that I'd stand out in a crowd or need a cane to walk. It just goes to show how much the standards for what was considered unusually far have changed over the last century.
    • I don't think anyone would call me morbidly obese or so fat that I'd stand out in a crowd

      In the U.S. nobody would, and in the U.S. you wouldn't. Across the pond however, we don't often get to see folk like that.

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