Ill health ‘cuts 15 years from men’s lifespan’

New research has found that middle-aged men who smoke, have high blood pressure and suffer from raised cholesterol levels can expect to see their lifespan cut by 15 years.

The study found those men with cardiovascular risk factors can expect to live over ten years less from the age of 50 compared with men without the health risks.

In the new study, researchers at the University of Oxford looked at life expectancy in relation to cardiovascular risk factors recorded in middle age.

Their findings are based on over 19,000 men aged 40-69 years and employed in the civil service in London when they were first examined in 1967-1970 as part of the Whitehall Study.

The records of 18,863 men were traced and 7,044 surviving participants were re-examined in 1997 (around 28 years after their initial examination).

At entry into the study, 42 per cent of the men were current smokers, 39 per cent had high blood pressure and 51 per cent had high cholesterol.

When they were re-examined it was discovered about two thirds had quit smoking and the mean differences in levels of blood pressure and cholesterol had also declined by two thirds over this period.