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Chronic inflammation linked to silent heart damage, study says

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Updated: Sep 20, 2026 15:37 IST
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Chronic inflammation linked to silent heart damage, study says

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Washington [US], September 20 (ANI): Chronic inflammation linked to everyday stress, socioeconomic disadvantage and lifestyle factors may quietly damage the heart years before cardiovascular symptoms appear, according to a large study of nearly 480,000 UK adults.
Researchers from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London found that people with the highest levels of inflammation had a 43 per cent higher risk of heart attack and stroke than those with the lowest levels.
The study, published on Eureka Alert! described by researchers as the largest of its kind, analysed UK Biobank data using a blood marker called glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), along with heart imaging and genetic data.
The researchers found that higher inflammation levels were associated with structural changes in the heart, including thickened heart walls, smaller heart chambers and poorer heart filling. Such changes can develop silently for years before potentially progressing to heart failure.
Professor Declan O’Regan, British Heart Foundation Chair of Cardiovascular AI at Imperial College London and Head of the Computational Cardiac Imaging Group at the LMS, said, “Our study, which is the largest of its kind, suggests that millions of people could be living with hidden inflammation, which is slowly changing their heart and causing long-term damage - increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.”
He added, “Chronic inflammation is complicated, but we know it’s tied to our health and driven by a range of lifestyle and economic factors- meaning people may be at more risk just because of their surroundings, their economic status, their family’s health and their lifestyle.”
The study found that higher inflammation was strongly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and psychological distress, alongside established risk factors such as smoking and excess body fat.
The researchers said the findings suggest chronic inflammation could be one biological pathway through which everyday stresses, including poverty and mental health issues, have effects that increase cardiovascular risk.
“The surprising thing was how much social factors and mental health are linked to inflammation and damage to the heart - as well as more well-known risk factors like smoking and inactivity,” O’Regan said.
Tags:#Chronic inflammation#Heart damage#Socioeconomic disadvantage#Cardiovascular risk#Lifestyle factors
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