High Cholesterol In 30s, 40s, Increases Later Risk Of Heart Disease (VIDEO)
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Most young adults might assume they have years before needing to worry about their cholesterol.
But new findings from researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute suggest that even slightly high cholesterol levels in otherwise healthy adults between the ages of 35 and 55 can have long-term impacts on their heart health, with every decade of high cholesterol increasing their chances of heart disease by 39 percent.
The findings are published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Lead author Ann Marie Navar-Boggan, M.D., Ph.D., likens the cumulative effects of elevated cholesterol to the long-term impacts of smoking.
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Shawn Rocco/ Duke Medicine
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