Health chiefs in England this week launched an online , which is claimed to reveal peopleās risk of a heart attack or stroke. (PHE) says that if a personās heart is āolderā than their age, they are at increased risk and should consider diet and lifestyle changes.
But critics say the testĀ āwhich asks simple physical and lifestyle questionsĀ ā could create unfounded alarm by basing estimates on incomplete data.
PHE says that of 1.9 million who have already tried the test, 78 per cent had hearts older than their age. Just over a third had hearts five years older than themselves, and 14 per cent had hearts 10 years older.Ā It asks for accurate measurements of blood pressure and cholesterol, for example, but if these are not available, it inserts average values for the UK population, which tend to be on the unhealthy side.
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A healthy adult has total blood cholesterol levels of 5 millimoles per litre of blood, for example, but the average is higher and unhealthier, at 5.7 millimoles. This ādefaultā input could potentially mislead users by falsely inflatingāor deflatingāsomeoneās estimates of risk and heart age.
Coronary controversy
A similar controversy arose after 2013 when the US American College of Cardiology by which doctors could estimate their risk of a heart attack or stroke in the coming decade.
Evaluations of the algorithm found that it tended to quite dramatically overestimate risk. A in 307,591 people aged from 40 to 75 found for example that in the period of study between 2008 and 2013, there were 2061 heart attacks. This was five times fewer than the 10,151 predicted retrospectively by applying the risk-calculator to each patientās baseline medical data.
Concerns also emerged that by falsely inflating the risk of heart attacks, the ACC risk calculator would lead to to control blood pressure.
Another study of 2.7 million online users of a heart age tool launched in 2009 by Unilever found that it , principally because 77.5 per cent of users didnāt know their cholesterol levels while 47 per cent were similarly in the dark about their blood pressure.
Riyaz Patel of University College London, a partner in todayās launch of the UK heart-age campaign, agrees that many who use it may receive falsely high estimates of their heart age.
āWithout the numbers, you wonāt get the accurate assessment, but what you will get is a prompt to find out what they are,ā he says, adding that 40 per cent of people with high blood pressure are unaware of it. āThe main thrust is to get people engaged in a discussion about prevention.ā
Patel also said that finding out a āheart ageā has been to be a much better motivator than being given a percentage likelihood of a heart attack in the coming decade. āGiving the heart age has made the metric more encouraging for action,ā he says.
PHE also defended the use of the heart age calculator. āOne objective of the tool is for people to āknow their own numbersā,ā said a spokesperson.
