Study: Lifestyle after 50 determines death

It's logical, but when it's promoted by more than 120 researchers, it sounds even more urgent: After 50, men and women should avoid smoking, as well as high cholesterol and being overweight. It works.

50-year-olds who do not smoke, have normal blood pressure, do not have high cholesterol or diabetes and maintain a healthy body weight not only live longer, but are also protected from cardiovascular diseases for longer. This was discovered by scientists from the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) - together with around 120 researchers from around the world. For their study, the scientists evaluated data from more than two million people from 39 countries. The results were published in the latest issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine".

"Five classic risk factors"

"The five classic risk factors high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, being underweight or overweight or obese and high cholesterol levels are responsible for around half of all cardiovascular disease worldwide," says Christina Magnussen, lead author and deputy director of the cardiology clinic at UKE. "We wanted to know how the absence or control of these factors affects longevity.

The study shows that women who at age 50 had none of these risk factors developed cardiovascular disease 13.3 years later and died 14.5 years later than women with all five risk factors. Men without these risk factors lived 10.6 years longer without cardiovascular disease and died an average of 11.8 years later than men with risk factors. Women who do not smoke at age 50 live 5.5 years longer without cardiovascular disease; for men it is 4.8 years.

Keeping blood pressure under control

"That's why it's worth changing your behavior as you age. Of the five risk factors, blood pressure control is the one that is most closely related to the number of healthy years left," explains Stefan Blankenberg, medical director of the University Center for Heart and Blood Vessels at UKE. People who control high blood pressure or quit smoking at the age of 55-60 live longer and without cardiovascular disease than people who do not change their lifestyle.

1.4 million people in Germany with dementia

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has published current data on dementia in Germany. According to it, around 1.4 million people here are affected by dementia. In 2022, 2.8 percent of people over the age of 40 were living with a diagnosis of dementia, reports the RKI in Berlin. Women are more affected than men. In general, the frequency of the disease increases with age - 6.9 percent of people over 65 had such a diagnosis.

The number of dementia cases in eastern Germany and eastern Bavaria was higher than in other regions. According to the study, a significant role may be played by risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, which in recent decades have had an uneven regional distribution, but were more common in eastern Germany.

300,000 people suffer from Parkinson's

Researchers from the RKI and the AOK Scientific Institute (Wido) also analyzed data on the prevalence of Parkinson's disease. In 2022, according to the data, almost 300,000 people in Germany were diagnosed with Parkinson's. 0.61 percent of 40-year-olds were affected, with men being more often affected than women. The prevalence of Parkinson's disease increases with age. In people over 65, 1.42 percent were affected.

Dementia and Parkinson's are the two most common neurodegenerative diseases. Dementia is characterized by a progressive, irreversible deterioration of brain structures, accompanied by a decline in cognitive abilities such as memory, language, attention and concentration, but also by changes in personality, emotions and social skills. The disease develops slowly and is currently incurable.

In Parkinson's disease, the nerve cells in the brain that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine are damaged. This results in impairments, especially in motor skills. Muscle stiffness or tremors are typical. There may also be bladder and digestive disorders, memory and concentration problems, depression and falls. The figures are based on data from AOK health insurance and were published in the "Journal of Health Monitoring"./ DW (A2 Televizion)