Low-risk behaviors could prevent four of five MIs in men

Adherence to a combination of healthy dietary and lifestyle behaviors could prevent four of five MIs in men, researchers reported in a recent study.

Agneta Åkesson, PhD, and colleagues conducted a population-based prospective cohort study of Swedish men aged 45 to 79 years from 1997 to 2009. Participants completed a questionnaire on diet and lifestyle at baseline. All of the 20,721 participants had no history of cancer, CVD, diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol levels at baseline. The primary outcome was MI.

The five low-risk behaviors included:

·         A healthy diet, defined as the top quintile of the Recommended Food Score;

·         Moderate alcohol consumption, defined as 10 g to 30 g per day;

·         No smoking;

·         Regular physical activity, defined as walking or bicycling at least 40 minutes per day and exercising at least 1 hour per week;

·         A waist circumference <95 cm.

During the study period, the researchers observed 1,361 cases of incident MI. Only 1% of the men engaged in all five of the low-risk behaviors.

Åkesson, from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues determined that, compared with those who engaged in none of the low-risk behaviors, men with a healthy diet and moderate alcohol consumption had a reduced risk for MI (RR=0.65; 95% CI, 0.48-0.87), and men who engaged in all five low-risk behaviors had a substantially reduced risk for MI (RR=0.14; 95% CI, 0.04-0.43).

According to the researchers, based on this study population, engaging in all five low-risk behaviors could have prevented 79% of the MI events observed.

Men with hypertension and high cholesterol had a decreasing risk for MI when their adherence to the low-risk behaviors increased, according to the results.

“Of great importance is that these lifestyle behaviors are modifiable, and prospective changes from high-risk to low-risk behaviors (adopting at least two healthy characteristics) have been associated with 27% reduced incidence of CHD,” the researchers wrote. “It is, however, also clear that extensive prevention only can be achieved through inhibiting the initiation and establishment of any high-risk behavior. Preferably, also to control health care expenditures, prevention should focus on ensuring that ideal low-risk behaviors are introduced early and continued throughout life.”

Disclosure: The study was funded by grants from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) and from the Swedish Research Council/Infrastructure. The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Source: www.healio.com