Washington D.C.: A new study has revealed that American Heart Association's (AHA) Life's Simple 7 and Diabetes Shared Care Program (DSCP) can reduce risk of heart failure.


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Lead investigator Aaron R. Folsom of the University of Minnesota said that their study demonstrated that greater adherence to the AHA's Life's Simple 7 in middle age was associated with a lower lifetime occurrence of heart failure and greater preservation of cardiac structure and function.


In the study, investigators studied a population-based study of 13,462 adults who were aged 45-64 years in 1987-1989. From 1987-1989 risk factor measurements, they created a Life's Simple 7 score.


They found that approximately 25 percent of the participants developed heart failure through age 85 years, but the risk was just 14.4 percent for those with an optimal middle-age Life's Simple 7 score of 10-14 compared with 26.8 percent for participants with a score of 5-9, and 48.6 percent for a score of 0-4.


In another study conducted in Taiwan, researchers evaluated the impact of participation in the Diabetes Shared Care Program (DSCP) on the risk of cardiovascular disease events.


Lead investigator Chien-Ning Huang of the Chung Medical University Hospital said that they found that participation in the DSCP was associated with lower risks of cardiovascular events, stroke, and all-cause mortality.


The study is published in the Journal American Journal of Medicine.