Baby boomers warned of heart attack risk

MORE than 2.5 million baby boomers are likely to have a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke in the next five years because they refuse to lose weight, exercise or take blood pressure medication.

A report, released today by Access Economics, found more than three-quarters of people over 55 were inactive and overweight, more than half had hypertension and high cholesterol and a quarter had diabetes - all risk factors for heart attack and stroke.

But most were not aware they were in danger or refused to get treatment, believing they would always be healthy, a cardiologist and vascular physician at Liverpool Hospital, Greg Conner, said yesterday.

"We are seeing an unprecedented level of heart attack and stroke risk within the ageing community, a group we are now calling Generation Risk," Dr Conner said.

''These are people who have always enjoyed good health, but they are living longer now and the older we get, the more risk factors we have.''

Doctors had previously considered risk factors in isolation, but had now learnt that patients had a greater chance of suffering cardiovascular problems if more than one risk factor was present, he said.

''And this study showed that most people over 55 had at least two risk factors … where there is smoke there will eventually be fire unless people make the necessary lifestyle modifications and, in many cases, undergo life-long therapy to prevent a heart attack or stroke."

Only half of those aged 55 or over with high blood pressure were aware of their problem and only half of those again were being treated. ''But only half of those being treated have their condition under control - and that is alarming,'' he said.

About one in five people stopped taking blood pressure medication after a month and 80 per cent stopped after 30 months.

''It's an asymptomatic disease so people are just not convinced of the problem, but this is fixable. It seems like such a lost opportunity.''

The report found that about 1.1 million baby boomers had more than a one-in-three chance of having a heart attack or stroke in the next five years, while a further 1.5 million had a one-in-six risk. Men were almost twice as likely as women to be at high risk and one in seven had already had a heart attack or a stroke.

The report predicted that about 70,000 people will have a heart attack or stroke this year, with 17,000 being fatal.

"Over-55s now represent one quarter of the Australian population and, with population ageing, this will only increase, bringing with it a dramatic rise in the level of cardiovascular risk,'' the director of Access Economics, Lynne Pezzullo, said.