About 15 million adults are at an elevated risk for heart failure, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study assessed data from approximately 4,900 adults ages 30 to 79 who did not have known cardiovascular disease. The researchers used a prediction model from the American Health Association to estimate the risk of heart failure over a 10-year period for the sample study population representative of the U.S. adult population.

The model revealed that the average estimated 10-year risk for heart failure was 3.7% and an estimated 15 million adults had an elevated risk.

Most patients who had a high risk of heart failure were also at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which can strike when fats, cholesterol and other substances build up in the artery walls.

The risk of heart failure differed across demographics. Among those with elevated risk of heart failure, 62% were between 70 and 79 years old, and 14% were Black. Additionally, more than half of participants with higher heart failure risk had elevated blood pressure. Over half were also overweight or obese, the study found.

Heart failure can dramatically alter one’s lifespan and quality of life, and the study highlighted interventions to reduce heart failure risk - most notably hypertension control and weight loss.

“People with both elevated [heart failure] risk and obesity might receive extra benefit from weight-lowering medications,” the authors write. “Future research should include randomized trials on primary prevention of [heart failure] in people at high risk, including discovering when and how to screen for [heart failure] and identifying best treatment practices.”