You wouldn’t be an advanced practice provider if you didn’t have a running stream of “this is bad for you” trickling through your brain from time to time. Thankfully, the American College of Cardiology has reduced the list to 5 preventable or modifiable risk factors that your patients, even at the age of 50, can focus on to improve their life expectancy.
These risk factors include hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, diabetes and smoking. By addressing these risks by the age of 50, the threat of a reduced life expectancy (of up to 10 years) can be mitigated.
While researchers emphasize prevention as being essential, they indicate several key interventions which can positively affect outcomes. The most effective measures include controlling hypertension and smoking cessation, which can both delay future cardiovascular events and mortality by several years for both men and women. It’s encouraging to see that we can help patients adopt impactful, clinically informed health behaviors in mid-life.
Eckert, N. (2025, April 17). 5 risk factors at 50 can steal a decade of life. Medscape Medical News. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/5-risk-factors-50-can-steal-decade-life
The Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium. (2025). Global effect of cardiovascular risk factors on lifetime estimates. The New England Journal of Medicine, 393(2), 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2415879