Get a calculation of your heart's age

shysal

My heart age is one year lower than my actual age apparently and I can expect to live till 85 which is quite encouraging. I have raised cholesterol but didnt fill it in as I couldn't remember the reading but I refused statins. I do take BP pills.

Sorry to be dim but what are AF and RA?

To lighten the mood for Archers followers, here is the Ambridge Observer version of the test.

I am 72 (soon) and I have a heart age of 76. I answered no to all the questions other than my weight and height. My blood pressure is within limits and I know that I am overweight, but if I lose weight (Doesn’t say how much) it will only knock a year off my heart age. I am expected to live until I am 86 with a 13% risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Whoever formulated this survey I hope they didn’t pay them a lot!

Meant to say thanks maggie

Someone suggested not putting in a postcode from a deprived area, put in a village in the south east and your risk will drop. Daft or wot! ??

So basically they are assuming that people in deprived areas will have a higher risk, and factoring that in, and then using the results to show that people in deprived areas have a higher risk!!

I think there’s a name for that sort of argument!

janeainsworth,my GP is in dispute with the cardiology team. She says they're "only focussing on the heart" not the kidneys or the RA.
The cardiologist said clearly there is no evidence to suggest statins for a woman in my age group, with cholesterol of 5.6 and AF and RA will gain any protection from heart attack or stroke. A friend who is a researcher says the same. She adds that the potential side effects of statins are currently being under estimated.
The nonsense on line test takes no account of whether the RA is well controlled (my inflammation rates are normal now) , what stage of kidney disease the patient has and whether the patient takes medication for kidney or AF. I don't. It's a bit of a minefield and I expect this silly test will raise anxiety in many people who have nothing to worry about. Someone suggested not putting in a postcode from a deprived area, put in a village in the south east and your risk will drop. Daft or wot!

Here’s the Guardian link, jane. We’re old school (or at least DH is), so I just noticed it this morning in the paper paper.
www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/08/heart-health-the-science-behind-keeping-heart-disease-at-bay

I can’t find anything in the Grauniad maggie but here’s a link to something in the I
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-heart-age-test-evidence-ben-goldacre-waiting-times-gp-cholesterol-blood-pressure-public-health-a8527631.html%3famp

There’s an article about this test, and heart disease risk, in today’s Guardian. Apparently the 80% of people who don’t know their cholesterol levels are assigned the average in the test, which is outside safe levels. Then they wonder why 80% of people taking the test have a heart age higher than their actual age!

Glad you’ve had that reassurance iam.
I think it must be quite difficult for doctors to treat people as individuals, when there is so much emphasis on adhering to guidelines.

I have a number of conditions (three) that up the assessed risk. I've just had the letter from my cardiologist who says no need for statins, no need to medicate the AF and I'm doing well. That feels a lot more individual and reassuring than some generic on line test. Humph.

Also - no wonder so many of us are anxious about our health. It's very poor imo
I agree Iam.
It seems to set great store on genetic risk. My father died young of heart disease and this was what gave me a high score for my heart age.
There was a doctor (Sarah Jarvis I think) on R 4 the other day saying that ‘they’ now think that it’s not heart disease that runs in families, but the lifestyle that predisposes to heart disease.
My Dad smoked until he was about 40, took very little exercise and didn’t eat much fruit and vegetables.
My lifestyle is the polar opposite of all that, but when I tick the ‘did any family members die young of heart disease’ box, it immediately counts against me.

Heart age - 70
Actual age - 70
Estimated age I’ll live to - 86

DH Heart age 85
Actual age 74
Estimated age he’ll live to - 84

So should he be dead already?

Just done it and got my estimate
Heart age of 91
Actual age 61
Eeek!!

It gave me a heart age of 18 years above my chronological age the first time I completed it, and 24 years above the second time. I gave exactly the same information each time. I tick many boxes because of chronic health conditions. If this is the 'professional' test for whether we need statins, no wonder so many are taking them.
Also - no wonder so many of us are anxious about our health. It's very poor imo.

I did it but it never gave me my estimate. I sat in bed waiting for the paramedics to arrive but they never did.

Same for me maggiemaybe.I have had my blood pressure and cholesterol checked in the past but as it’s always been fine I have immediately forgotten it.

Heart age 66, actual 63, may have a heart attack at 84.

BMI 23, non smoker, no medical conditions or family history to declare. No questions about alcohol or exercise. I guess assumptions are made because I don’t know my BP or cholesterol levels, which were fine last time I was checked about 10 years ago.

This is such a waste of our money.

I’m losing it - I’m not 72 for another 20 days !

I’m 72 and my heart is 81 ?

I am almost within the correct range for my BMI so I don’t know how much more I need to lose to meet these exacting standards.

Rubbish! I don't know my cholesterol but am normal weight and healthy eater and run half marathons, yet it also told me I will be 84 when I have heart problems! It suggested losing weight which would put me in the underweight category! No family history, BP normal etc...too little info on the questionnaire to do any proper reckoning. I suspect hidden agenda.......

I'm 64 and it told me mine was 73 I don't know my BP or cholesterol but do have atrial fibrillation so it's probably based on that. More stuff to worry about - if you let it!

I’m 70 and it told me that heart age is 93! I didn’t know my accurate cholesterol or BP reading so had to let it default to whatever values uses as default and I know I have heart issues but it was still a bit of a shock.

Perhaps I’d better start spending more money on enjoying myself.