New Delhi, Sep 30
Heart attack, stroke, or heart failure come with warning signs in 99 per cent cases, according to a large study that refuted the notion that these devastating events often strike people without warning signs.
The study led by Northwestern Medicine, US, and Yonsei University in South Korea, showed people with these deadly cardiovascular diseases -- which remain the leading cause of death worldwide -- had at least one risk factor above an optimal level beforehand.
"We think the study shows very convincingly that exposure to one or more nonoptimal risk factors before these cardiovascular outcomes is nearly 100 per cent," said senior author Dr. Philip Greenland, professor of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
"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," Greenland added.