One in three men in their thirties have hardening of the arteries

One in five women have the same changes in their arteries.

It was found in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in a published study. It examined the arteries of nearly 17,000 adults in Denmark and Spain.

“Atherosclerosis also commonly occurs in young people. It is mostly asymptomatic,” confirms the professor Olli Raitakari from the University of Turku. Everyday people talk about arteriosclerosis or arterial disease.

Similar results regarding the occurrence of arterial disease in young people have also been obtained in Finland.

Researchers look for plaques in the arteries, i.e. accumulations of fat and inflammatory cells that form on the walls of the blood vessels.

Over time, they can narrow the arteries and tear, causing the blood vessel to become blocked.

Plaques were already found in the carotid arteries of people in their twenties under Raitakari’s leadership in the study. About five percent of Finns under 30 had them.

Arterial disease develops slowly, even over decades. Therefore, the risk of a young person getting sick may seem small, even if there are already deposits in the arteries.

In the Danish-Spanish study, deposits were also found in younger people, i.e. under 30 years of age, in almost nine percent of men and seven percent of women.

The finding is in line with previous studies. In men, atherosclerosis begins on average 5–10 years earlier than in women. The cause is not known for certain, but the protective effect of estrogen in women may explain the difference.

Arterial disease can develop asymptomatically for decades.

According to Raitakari, carotid artery plaque detected as a young adult has been associated with approximately twice the risk of developing the disease as an adult in Finnish follow-ups.

The finding of plaque indicates that the disease has started, but does not mean that it is inevitable to get sick. The good news is that the progression of artery disease is not inevitable.

Lowering cholesterol and lowering blood pressure can stop plaque growth.

Sometimes the accumulations can even decrease. And even if the plaque does not decrease, its inflammation can calm down and the risk of rupture can decrease.

Arterial disease In Raitakar’s opinion, prevention should be made earlier than it is now.

If the risk turns out to be high, the arteries could be examined by imaging already in young adulthood, and atherosclerosis could be intervened before symptoms appear.

There is still no evidence that screening for asymptomatic arterial disease and treatment based on it would reduce myocardial infarctions or strokes. This is still being investigated.

Raitakari does not urge everyone to seek arterial imaging.

“However, people aged 20-30 should measure their cholesterol and blood pressure and talk to their doctor about whether there is a reason to do something.”

Even children’s cholesterol levels and other risk factors could be monitored.

Raitakari emphasizes the importance of healthy lifestyles. If changes in the arteries have already been identified, it may be necessary to address the risk factors with medication as well.

According to Raitakari, the levels of bad LDL cholesterol in modern people promote the formation of plaques.

“The problem is that the reference values ​​are based on the average LDL cholesterol values ​​of the population. However, they are already so high that atherosclerosis starts to develop,” says Raitakari.

According to him, only if the concentration remains below 1.5 millimoles per liter, the disease usually does not develop.

The risk limits vary depending on whether the person has other risk factors for arterial disease. The upper limit of bad cholesterol is 3 in the recommendationsbut only if the risk of arterial disease is otherwise low.

On also revealed that standard cardiovascular disease risk calculators do not identify nearly all people who already have hardening of the arteries.

In the Danish-Spanish study, only about two percent of those with arterial plaques were classified as having a high risk of cardiovascular disease.

In a Finnish study, 40 percent of 30-39-year-olds with carotid artery plaques did not have above-average cholesterol, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, or daily smoking.