Breaking Hearts?

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recently completed a study assessing the causes of elevated coronary calcium levels.  This study notes that heightened amounts of coronary calcium lead to such issues as cancer, blood clots, and mental health issues.  The report of the study was presented in May of 2007.

The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, as it was called, focused on following a group of 5,115 people aged 18 to 30 for a period of 15 years.  It was an observational study that would detect the levels of calcium deposits in their arteries.  The deposits within the hearts of these participants were measured and resulted in a notable correlation between habitual actions and elevated levels leading to health issues.

The CARDIA study depicted a positive correlation between poor habits (such as smoking, maintaining a high body mass index, neglecting to control high blood pressure, having elevated blood sugar levels, and living with high levels of lipoprotein cholesterol) and a three times higher risk of elevated coronary calcium levels.   The study concluded that the subjects were models for poor health and candidates for several health issues.  Their risk for cancer was elevated along with their risk for blood clots and sarcomas.  The participants also showed an increase in the risk for mental health issues such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.   

This study's results were not surprising to me.  It is a generally accepted health idea that poor living choices such as smoking, elevated blood sugar, high lipoprotein cholesterol, and above suggested levels of blood pressure will result in health issues such as the ones determined by the study.  Their conclusions do correlate with the results, as an increase in calcium within the coronary arteries would result in an imbalance in the body leading to mental issues as well as other health issues.  I do not have concerns with their population size; it is not the size of the sample that matters but rather the quality of the subjects.  The subjects in this study appear to have the necessary variation to show accurate correlation.  Overall, this was an educational study that reaffirmed health ideas that had previously been presented to me.




Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA], 2007. Health Agencies Update. Coronary Calcium Risks, 297(20), 2188. doi:10.1001/jama.297.20.2188-a