A sustained effort to lower cholesterol and blood pressure can slash a person’s lifetime chance of developing heart and cardiovascular disease by 80%, say investigators.  

This dramatic benefit can be reached by reducing LDL cholesterol by 18 mg/dl in the blood, along with a 10 mmHg reduction in blood pressure, according to Brian Ference, M.D., University of Cambridge, and colleagues. Even as small a reduction as 5 mg/dl cholesterol in the blood and 3 mmHg lower blood pressure brought lifetime risk down substantially – by 50%, they reported.

While it’s known that lowering blood pressure and LDL cholesterol prevents cardiovascular disease onset, the risk, which accumulates over time, has not been quantified before, according to the research team. In addition, their approach to analyzing data from UK Biobank allowed them to mimic the effects of running a clinical trial, they wrote.

The authors said they hoped that the study results will prompt clinicians to take a fresh look at the care of people who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease complications, and improve guidance for those who wish to make lifestyle changes.

Clinicians may be able to use the dramatic findings as a motivator for long-term change, commented Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which partly funded the study. “Huge numbers of heart attacks and strokes can be prevented simply by getting to know your numbers and taking your health into your own hands,” he said in a statement.

The new research was presented this week at European Society of Cardiology Congress in Paris and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.