Mixed
High blood pressure, high serum cholesterol, smoking, high body mass index, and high blood glucose are collectively responsible for approximately 9.7 million annual cardiovascular disease deaths worldwide, with high blood pressure being the single largest contributor.
Focus on managing your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding smoking. These five factors are the primary drivers of heart disease globally. High blood pressure is the single biggest contributor, so monitoring and managing it is the most impactful step you can take alongside quitting smoking and maintaining a healthy BMI.
The established risk factors plus body mass index are collectively responsible for ≈9.7 million annual CVD deaths, with high blood pressure accounting for more CVD deaths than any other risk factor.
Why this rating
Based on large-scale global comparative risk assessment studies, prospective cohorts, and randomized trials confirming causality for most factors.
Source
Worldwide Exposures to Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Associated Health Effects
Ioanna Tzoulaki et al. · Circulation · 2016
DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.115.008718
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