Young men shouldn’t wait to think about heart health, study suggests

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/03/15/age-heart-attack-risk-increases/

Most people don’t spend their 20s, 30s or even 40s worrying about heart disease. You might think it’s something you can safely ignore until midlife and beyond. But new research suggests that for many men, the risk of heart disease may begin rising sooner than they — or even their doctors — realize.

A decades-long study led by Northwestern Medicine researchers, published this year in the Journal of the American Heart Association, revealed that men start developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) years earlier than women, with cardiac risk differences beginning as early as their mid-30s.

“Our findings show that differences in cardiovascular disease risk between men and women emerge by age 35,” Freedman said, suggesting that young adulthood is a critical time to start taking cardiovascular risk seriously — and implementing prevention strategies into your life.