Cardiovascular Business: Cardiologists ID Signs of Widespread Heart Disease in Ancient Mummies

A team of cardiologists has used cardiac imaging technology to confirm that cardiovascular disease was a significant issue thousands of years ago, presenting its findings in European Heart Journal.

The group used computed tomography (CT) to evaluate a total of 237 adult mummies from all over the world, including Egypt and ancient Peru. Signs of definite or probably atherosclerosis were identified in 37.6% of the samples.

“We found atherosclerosis in all time periods—dating before 2,500 BCE—in both men and women, in all seven cultures that were studied, and in both elites and non-elites,” lead author Randall Thompson, MD, a cardiologist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, said in a statement. “This further supports our previous observation that it is not just a modern condition caused by our modern lifestyles.”

Read the full Cardiovascular Business article: Cardiologists ID Signs of Widespread Heart Disease in Ancient Mummies