Study reveals signs that appear before every heart attack or stroke

 My high blood pressure didn't occur until 8 years after the stroke, no glucose problems, no clue on cholesterol since inflammation is the problem, NOT CHOLESTEROL!

Key TIME Magazine Articles and Themes:

• Questioning the "Cholesterol as the Sole Cause" Myth:

A 2015 TIME article titled "Know Right Now: Why Cholesterol Isn't as Bad as We Thought" suggested that dietary cholesterol might not be as problematic as previously believed, aligning with shifts in dietary guidelines at the time. 

Study reveals signs that appear before every heart attack or stroke

Warning signs like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol or glucose levels precede almost all heart attack and stroke cases, according to a study challenging the belief that these strike without warning.

Above-optimal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or smoking almost always precede these cardiac events, say researchers from Yonsei University College in South Korea, who call for greater attention to early detection and control of these modifiable risks.

Scientists assessed health records for over nine million people in South Korea and nearly 7,000 in the US, following their health status for up to two decades.

The researchers looked for the presence of four major risk factors before a heart attack, stroke or heart failure – high blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and smoking.

Non-optimal levels included past tobacco use, blood pressure over 120/80 mm Hg, total cholesterol over 200 mg/dL, fasting glucose over 100 mg/dL, and diagnosis of diabetes.

They also examined higher thresholds for elevated risk: blood pressure over 140/90, cholesterol above 240, glucose levels above 126, and current smoking.

They found that 99 per cent of those who had a major heart event during the study had non-optimal levels of at least one factor, and 93 per cent had two or more.

“We think the study shows very convincingly that exposure to one or more non-optimal risk factors before these cardiovascular outcomes is nearly 100 per cent,” said study co-author Philip Greenland from Northwestern University, US.

“The goal now is to work harder on finding ways to control these modifiable risk factors rather than to get off track in pursuing other factors that are not easily treatable and not causal.”

High blood pressure – or hypertension – was the most common, affecting over 95 per cent of patients in South Korea and over 93 per cent in the US.

Even among women under 60 – the group often assumed to be at the lowest risk – more than 95 per cent still had at least one of these factors before heart failure or stroke.

At least 90 per cent of patients had at least one major high-risk factor before their first cardiac event, the study found.