Included in your membership
Heart Age: Your Cardiovascular Health in Context
All NiaHealth tests are processed in Canadian-certified labs, which are highly trusted by the medical community for their accuracy and reliability. Blood and urine samples are collected by licensed medical professionals and processed using state-of-the-art equipment. NiaHealth is SOC2 Type 2 certified.
What is it?
Heart age is a way to understand your cardiovascular risk by comparing the health of your heart and blood vessels to someone of your age with ideal health. It’s based on your blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking status, and other key risk factors. A heart age older than your actual age means you’re at higher risk for heart disease.
Why it matters
Knowing your heart age can make cardiovascular risk easier to understand and act on. It helps connect the dots between your lifestyle, lab results, and future health. Research shows that sharing heart age improves motivation and treatment adherence. Canadian guidelines recommend using “cardiovascular age” to better communicate risk and support preventive care.
Reference ranges
There are no specific reference ranges for heart age as it depends on individual cardiovascular risk factors. However, general guidelines can be used:
- Younger Heart Age: A heart age lower than the individual’s chronological age is considered favorable and indicates a lower risk for cardiovascular events.
- Older Heart Age: A heart age older than the individual’s chronological age suggests a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and potentially indicates the need for lifestyle changes or medical interventions.
Tobe, S. W., Stone, J. A., Anderson, T., Bacon, S. L., Cheng, A. Y. Y., Daskalopoulou, S. S., Ezekowitz, J. A., Gregoire, J. C., Gubitz, G., Jain, R., Keshavjee, K., Lindsay, P., L’Abbé, M., Lau, D. C. W., Leiter, L. A., O’Meara, E., Pearson, G. J., Rabi, D. M., Sherifali, D., Selby, P., Tu, J. V., Wharton, S., Walker, K. M., Hua-Stewart, D., & Liu, P. P. (2018). Canadian Cardiovascular Harmonized National Guidelines Endeavour (C-CHANGE) guideline for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in primary care: 2018 update. CMAJ, 190(40), E1192–E1206. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.180194
Grover, S., Lowensteyn, I., Joseph, L., Brewer, C., Coupal, L., & Suissa, S. (2008). Discussing coronary risk with patients to improve blood pressure and lipid management: The CHECK-UP study. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(1), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0825-4
Canadian Cardiovascular Society. (2024, April). Framingham Risk Score (FRS) calculator [PDF]. Canadian Cardiovascular Society. https://ccs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/FRS_2024_EN_Fillable_Final.pdf
This information is educational and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Your results should be interpreted with a qualified healthcare professional in the context of your health history.
