According to an American study, the quality of relations with its neighborhood could play an important role in reducing the risk of heart attack.
Does Appreciating Your Neighbors Reduce Your Risk of Heart Attack? In any case, this is what a study conducted by American researchers published this Tuesday in the scientific journal suggests. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Risk of heart attack reduced by 67%
To reach this conclusion, these scientists from the University of Michigan were interested in what could have a protective effect at the level of interpersonal relationships. For four years, Dr. Eric Kim’s team has analyzed the behaviors of more than 5,000 adults, on average 70 years old (two thirds of whom are women), and who had no known heart problem at the start of the year. ‘study.
They were asked to assess, on a 7-point scale, their feeling of belonging to the community, the existence of neighbors who could help them in the event of problems or their confidence in the majority of the inhabitants of the district. The researchers also asked them if they found the latter friendly.
Result, by analyzing the 148 deaths following heart attacks during the duration of the study, they showed that the people with the highest score on the scale of 7 had a risk of heart attack reduced by 67%. compared to those reporting the lowest score. And for Dr. Kim, “this is a significant reduction and roughly comparable to that which can be observed between a smoker and a non-smoker,” he told Agence France Presse.
No definitive conclusions
The researcher specifies, however, that the results were obtained “taking into account the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases such as age, sex, marital status, lifestyle, weight or even health problems such as diabetes. and high blood pressure. “
The scientists admit that “other risk factors such as family cardiovascular history were not known and stress that this is only an observational study that does not allow definitive conclusions to be drawn on the subject. “
But they note the importance of a “social neighborhood environment apart from family and friends, believing that it is likely to lead to beneficial behaviors, such as the practice of a physical activity with one’s neighbors for example. “
.
