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Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Never too young to prevent heart failureStudy: 1 in 5 over age of 40 at risk for the disease
(CNN) -- Congestive heart failure was once considered to be a concern primarily for older people. But a new study in this week's Circulation journal says people as young as 40 have a 1-in-5 chance of developing the potentially deadly disease. CNN anchor Carol Costello talked with medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the study and what steps to take to stay healthy. COSTELLO: Let's talk about this congestive heart failure study, because this is scary, because I happen to be in that age group. But one in five over 40 could suffer from that and not even know it? GUPTA: Right. See, the thing that's interesting about this particular study is we hear numbers a lot about cancer risks. We hear that you have a 1 in 8 chance of developing certain sorts of cancers. They haven't done those sort of statistical analysis before for congestive heart failure, and so this is the first time they've done it. One in 5, as you mentioned, Carol, over age 40, chance of developing congestive heart failure. If you have high blood pressure, that risk doubles to 2 out of 5. And these are all things we've sort of known -- but these numbers are pretty dramatic. What typically happens [as the heart pumps] is the blood vessels expand and contract. That allows blood to get through the blood vessels. That's sort of typical. What happens in hypertension is the blood vessels become stiff, and then when the heart is trying to pump against those stiff blood vessels, it's very hard to do. The heart compensates by getting larger, and the muscle gets thicker, but after awhile, the heart just can't compensate anymore. That's heart failure, and as the fluid starts to build up, that's congestive heart failure. COSTELLO: What are some warning signs? How can you tell if your heart is doing that? GUPTA: Some of the initial warning signs can be very subtle. They can just be tiredness, can be fatigue, things like that. It becomes much more dramatic. Fluids can build up in the feet. As the fluids start to build up, you get the edema in the feet. It can cause difficulty breathing, especially at night, when people are lying flat on their back. A lot of times it's preceded by chest pain if somebody's having a heart attack, or if their blood pressure is quite high. But the important thing people talk about is eating right and exercising -- and I get a little tired of saying it, but 61 percent of this nation is overweight. A third of people who have high blood pressure, significantly high blood pressure, don't even know if they have it. There are some very basic, simple things that people can do to try to correct that stuff. Here you have a list of them: •Get your blood pressure tested •Eat a low-fat, low-salt diet •Don't smoke •Limit alcohol There are good medications out there. There is not a cure for heart failure, but there are good treatments out there. COSTELLO: That's right, you can prevent it. Exercise, exercise, exercise. GUPTA: That's right.
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