Merit Health River Region hosted a Get to Know Your Heart Lunch and Learn Session Tuesday at its Highway 61 North location.

At the event, Dr. Paul Pierce, IV, M.D. discussed the risks of heart disease and how to prevent it.

Pierce said that about half of all adults in the U.S. have a form of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and that figure is expected to jump to over 61% by 2050.

CVD can take multiple forms including high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, and heart failure. It is the single leading cause of death in the country, outpacing cancer, stroke, and accidents. About 40% of women will die of CVD, compared to about 3.3% who will die of breast cancer.

Pierce said that in 2023, 26.3% of all deaths in the country were caused by CVD.

CVD mortality rates for 25- to 44-year-olds increased by about 200% between 1999 and 2020. Pierce said this can be attributed in part to diet, sedentary lifestyles, obesity, and in particular vaping.

“If you vape, just so you know, nobody knows what’s in it,” Pierce said during Tuesday’s luncheon. “Nobody’s done any long-term studies. Nobody knows what the outcome of that’s going to be. Is it better than cigarettes? Is it worse than cigarettes? Nobody knows the answer to that question. There have been studies done that say that stuff has arsenic in it.”

Smoking, Pierce says, is a significant risk factor for CVD.

“Risk factor number one (is) smoking. (It’s) extremely preventable. The body hates tar and nicotine,” he said. “And we have adverse reactions to that that include reducing the amount of oxygen in the blood. Your blood pressure increases and nicotine takes an artery that’s like this and squeezes it down like that, it increases your blood pressure. (smokers) have twice the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Other risk factors for CVD include high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, stress, and diabetes.

Pierce also went over things that can be done to prevent CVD.

Quitting smoking can be a significant step in the right direction, he said.

“One year after stopping smoking, the excess risk associated with tobacco abuse is half that of a smoker and a 70% reduction in five years,” Pierce said. “All that to say it’s never going back to zero.”

He also recommends a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and regular exercise.

Pierce mentioned a study that showed people who did moderate exercise for just two and a half hours a week received about 85% of the cardiovascular benefits that professional athletes receive.