Promoting wellness by delaying age of cardiovascular disease onset: development of a model

Studies promoting wellness and prevention of cardiovascular disease have primarily dealt with identifying risk factors rather than factors that influence the age at which the cardiovascular disease develops. The purpose of this study was to determine whether selected risk factors affect the age when cardiovascular disease develops. Using a nonexperimental design, all 800 subjects who developed cardiovascular disease were selected from the Framingham Heart Study. A structural equation model for age of cardiovascular disease development was tested. Gender, smoking, entry age, antihypertensive medication use, hemoglobin, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were significant determinants of the age at which cardiovascular disease develops. The model accounted for 72% of the variance in age of cardiovascular disease development. The results of this study suggest that in assisting individuals to modify cardiovascular disease risk, cardiovascular nurses and other professionals must address smoking, body mass index, and blood pressure as a package to delay onset of cardiovascular disease symptoms.