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Heart Risks Emerge Early: 58.5% of Young Employees Under 35 Show Warning Signs
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Firstpost•02-10-2026, 01:17
Heart Risks Emerge Early: 58.5% of Young Employees Under 35 Show Warning Signs
- •A new ekincare report reveals 58.5% of employees under 35 exhibit cardiovascular risk markers, challenging the assumption that heart health concerns begin later in life.
- •The Young Workforce Heart Health Report 2026, based on 2 lakh employee health checks, indicates that BMI alone is insufficient to assess cardiovascular risk, as 60% of young employees with normal BMI had other flagged health markers.
- •Blood sugar is a growing concern, with risk increasing by 4.3 percentage points since 2023, showing a sharp rise in 2024, while cholesterol and blood pressure markers eased.
- •Millennials (28–40) show a higher flagged risk rate than Gen Z (20–27), and men have a higher cardiovascular risk (67.6%) than women (53.2%).
- •Repeat health checks demonstrate positive outcomes, with 43% of employees showing improvement in health markers, highlighting the benefit of early and consistent monitoring.
Key Questions Answered
According to the Young Workforce Heart Health Report 2026 by ekincare, 58.5% of employees under the age of 35 were flagged for cardiovascular risk markers.
Millennials aged 28-40 recorded a higher flagged risk rate than Gen Z employees aged 20-27, showing an 18.4 percentage-point gap.
The report found that 60% of employees under 35 with a normal BMI still had at least one other flagged health marker, particularly concerning cholesterol, demonstrating that BMI does not provide the full picture.
