For the heart, better up than down: the Swiss Alps and Lake Geneva

Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Researchers at the University of Zurich, in a study of 1.6 million German-speaking Swiss people over a 10-year period, confirm that the risk of having a heart attack or stroke is dramatically lower if you live above 1,000 metres, and that climate is probably a key factor. Previous studies have provided conflicting results, in part because of the mixed populations studied, say authors David Faeh, Felix Gutzwiller and Matthias Bopp for the Swiss National Study Cohort Group.

The people with the lowest risk are those born at high altitude who continue to live there, their study shows.

The risk of coronary heart disease falls by 22 percent for each 1,000 metres of altitude and the risk of stroke drops by 12 percent per 1,000m. The study included men and women ages 40 to 84, who lived at altitudes ranging from 259 metres to 1960m.

American Heart Association, 28 July 2009

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.