Lower LDL Cholesterol and Blood Pressure Can Extend Life Expectancy by 10 Years

While it has been known for decades that high blood pressure and high ‘LDL’ (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol constitute a risk to health and may shorten life, it is only recently that figures have emerged revealing just how significant such a life-shortening effect can be. A ‘longitudinal’ study carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Oxford followed a sample of 19,000 men over a period of almost 40 years.

The Study

The men, all civil servants aged between the ages of 40 and 69 when the study began in 1967, had a number of health measurements taken at the outset. These included height, weight, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol level, lung function and blood glucose levels. In addition, the volunteers answered a detailed questionnaire addressing marital status, employment grade, and previous medical history and smoking habits. When the study was established, 42% of the men were current smokers and 51% of the total number of subjects presented with high cholesterol levels. High blood pressure was recorded for 39% of the sample group.

When the men were reexamined nearly forty years later, in 2005, 13,500 of them had died. The team then compared the health measurements with mortality rates, and generated important data about the risks posed to health and survival by elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol – the two variables most strongly associated with cardiovascular disease. The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, reveal that men aged 50 at the start of the study with raised cholesterol and high blood pressure lived, on average, ten full years less than their similarly-aged counterparts who had neither risk factor. When the researchers included other factors, such as obesity, diabetes and employment grade, the margin between the survival rates of the two groups grew to 15 years.

Conclusions

The study was led by Dr Robert Clarke, of the University’s Clinical Trial Service Unit. He regards the finding as clear evidence that men aged 50 who smoke and have raised levels of both blood pressure and cholesterol can expect to live to 74 years of age. Those without these risk factors, however, can expect to reach 83 years of age. He was confident that by stopping smoking and taking measures to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, individuals could expect to significant improve their life expectancy.

A spokesman for the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Professor Peter Weisberg, believes that, while the study starkly illustrates how these risk factors in middle age reduce life expectancy, it also contains a message of hope. People over 50 who smoke can make changes which will almost certainly significantly extend their lives.

The President of the Faculty of Public Health in the UK, Professor Alan Maryon-Davies, drew out another aspect of the research: the findings help us to understand why people who are less well off financially are more likely to die at a younger age. Poorer people tend to suffer greater psychosocial stress, eat less healthily and smoke – all of which combine to greatly enhance the risk of cardiovascular disease. It is this group of people, the study implies, who perhaps particularly need to be targeted for help.

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