In more good news for those who don’t let aging keep them from practicing healthy habits, a new study finds the fittest seniors are half as likely as others to suffer from heart failure.
“Older adults can make simple changes to reduce their heart failure risk, such as not smoking, engaging in moderate physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight,” said study author Liana Del Gobbo, a Ph.D. student with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.
Heart failure is very common among older people, the researchers said.
“A person aged 55 has a one-in-three chance of developing heart failure in his lifetime,” Del Gobbo said, and the condition is the leading cause of hospitalization in people covered by Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for seniors.