Originally Posted by
Trakhak
It's astonishing, by the way, that people are now living long enough to develop heart disease. I can't fathom how it is that hearts are lasting two and three times longer than they did for the vast majority of human history.
Many people have been living long enough to die of heart disease for a long time. In 1900, heart disease mortality was 137.4 per 100,000. In 2010, it was 192.9 per 100,000.
An increase, certainly, but not an increase from zero. What changes drove the sharp increase in heart disease? Living longer? A little. The biggies were (are): smoking, sedentary lifestyles, and crappy diet.
Personal data point: my grandfather died of a heart attack in 1926, at the age of 45.
