Knowledge of Heart Risk Does Not Always Change Unhealthy Habits

If you knew you could lower your risk of heart attack by making a simple lifestyle change, would you be motivated to make that change? In a Canadian study, three-fourths of people said yes. But surprisingly, many with five or more risk factors for heart attack did not feel the need to change their health behaviors.

Improving Risk Requires Action. Rates of heart disease are dropping, thanks to better education about risk factors. Nevertheless, heart disease remains the number one killer in the United States, largely due to modifiable risk factors. Researchers with the INTERHEART study looked at nine modifiable risk factors that account for more than 90 percent of the risk for heart attack:

• Less than four hours a week of moderate exercise
• Obesity
• Eating fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• More than four alcoholic drinks a week or abstinence
• Smoking
• High stress
• Type 2 diabetes
• Hypertension
• Levels of apolipoprotein A and B also were on the list, but data were not available.

The researchers targeted more than 47,269 individuals with one or more of these risk factors, and asked, “Do you think there is anything you should do to improve your health?” and “Is there anything stopping you from making this improvement? If so, what?”

Old Habits Die Hard. Three-fourths of respondents acknowledged they needed to make changes, and 81 percent said they would. Most said they would exercise more, lose weight, improve their diet, or quit or reduce their smoking.

However, people with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or high alcohol consumption did not see any need to change. The reaction among those with low fruit and vegetable consumption or high stress levels was mixed.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the need to change behaviors dropped as the number of risk factors grew. A disappointing 16 percent of people with five or more risk factors for heart disease—putting them at extremely high risk of heart attack—saw no need to improve their health. Although 83 percent acknowledged the need, more than half did not feel it would be possible to make healthy lifestyle changes, due to lack of willpower, busy schedule, or family responsibilities. These findings reinforce the existence of a disconnect between an understanding of what longstanding behaviors need to be changed and how best to change them. As a result, the necessary, beneficial changes often never take place. (Journal of the American Heart Association, online May 3, 2017.)

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