The study looked at 1994 death rates from heart disease in young men between the ages of 35 and 44. Ph.D, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
Genes can play a role in increasing an individual's risk of premature cardiac death.
But the study looks at populations, so the effects of genetics on this age group would be the same across the population. Thus, any regional variation observed would be due to other factors such as lifestyle. Furthermore, researchers say that most deaths in this age group are sudden deaths that occur outside of a hospital. This also suggests that these deaths are due to lifestyle rather than medical care, says Sekikawa. If we could learn how lifestyle contributed to these deaths we could better target programs aimed at preventing early death from heart disease.