Study Indicates Lifestyle Choices are Correlated with Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Mateusz Babicki, MD, PhD, Wroclaw Medical University | Image Credit: Loop

A recent multicentered, retrospective cross-sectional study revealed a direct correlation between healthy dietary choices, dietary harm avoidance, daily routine, organized physical exercise, and social and mental balance and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy individuals.¹

CVD has long been the leading cause of mortality worldwide. The American Heart Association estimated that roughly 127.9 million Americans ≥20 years have CVD, including heart failure, stroke, hypertension, or coronary heart disease. 71% of American adults have overweight or obesity, and 24.2% meet the national physical activity recommendations.²

“Considering the significant impact of lifestyle on the development and course of CVD, it is important to raise public awareness, including medical professionals, about the need to identify individuals at risk and empower them to change their behavior,” wrote Mateusz Babicki, MD, PhD, department of family medicine, Wroclaw Medical University, and colleagues. “To obtain a significant impact on reducing cardiovascular risk, these actions must be conducted at the population level, with the implementation of systemic solutions.”¹

The team collected information from 10 primary care facilities around Poland. They performed analysis of laboratory results and anthropometric measurements, primarily focusing on blood lipids panels (serum total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, non-HDL, triglycerides) and serum fasting glucose levels. To be included in the study, participants had to fulfill all the following required characteristics:

• ≥40 years
• No CVD, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease when entering the study
• Performed the laboratory tests within 4 weeks before or after entering the study¹

Babicki and colleagues included 836 individuals in the study, with a median age of 48 +/- 9.3 years. 64.4% of participants were female, 25% were current smokers, and 15.7% were former smokers.¹

After being enrolled in the trial, participants were requested to fill out the healthy lifestyle and personal control questionnaire (HLPCQ), a measure by which investigators could determine the frequency of lifestyle habits. Out of 26 questions, 12 refer to dietary choices, 2 to physical activity, 4 to social and mental factors, and 8 to daily routine and time management. Each question is based on the Likert 4 degree scale – the higher number of points correlates with a healthier lifestyle.¹

After a SCORE2 risk analysis, 381 (45.5%) participants were classified as low to medium risk and 173 (20.6%) met the criteria for a very high risk group of CV events. Average HLPCQ score was 65.6 +/- 26.0 points.¹

To determine the impact of lifestyle on laboratory results, the team performed univariate linear regression analysis. The analysis demonstrated that higher scores in the dietary choices subscale of HLPCQ correlated to lower levels of serum non-HDL cholesterol (B = -.009, SE = .003, t =-3.196, P = .001) and higher levels of serum HDL cholesterol levels (B = .027, SE = .008, t = 3.529, P <.001). A similar correlation was also noted in the physical exercise subscale. There was no correlation between total score and mean levels of serum total cholesterol.¹

Babicki and colleagues concluded that lifestyle choices had a substantial impact on biochemical parameters. Notably, however, HLPCQ is not indicative of a person’s long-term CVD risk; it and similar tools are meant to help clinicians implement interventions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. The team does state that HLPCQ is associated with CVD risk factors, thereby providing a method of reducing those risks for patients.¹

“As lifestyle is also a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and both patients and medical professionals should be actively educated about its impact on health,” [LEAD] and colleagues wrote. “HLPCQ is a useful tool in providing additional information facilitating CVD risk assessment.”¹

References

1. Babicki M, Ledwoch J, Zieliński T, et al. Assessment of cardiovascular risk factors and effect of lifestyle in individuals without cardiovascular disease, diabetes or chronic kidney disease. Sci Rep. 2025;15(1):13544. Published 2025 Apr 19. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-98215-5

2. Martin SS, Aday AW, Almarzooq ZI, et al. 2024 heart disease and stroke statistics: A report of US and Global Data from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2024;149(8). doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000001209