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Yesterday, I posed this question. After feedback and rumination, here are a few thoughts. https://twitter.com/whsource/status/1304534275216220160
First, @JimJohnsonSci pointed out that cardiac death isn't that uncommon in rodents if you let them get old enough. Yet it isn't the type of atherosclerosis-based CVD that kills the most humans. I also haven't seen much evidence of stroke in rodents. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0300985815610391
One way to think about this is to focus on the two primary causal risk factors for CVD in humans:
1. Apo-B containing lipoprotein concentrations, e.g. LDL
2. Blood pressure
1. Apo-B containing lipoprotein concentrations, e.g. LDL
2. Blood pressure
I was surprised that only one person, @ChrisMasterjohn, mentioned blood lipids.
Human lipoprotein physiology is heavily weighted toward ApoB particles like LDL, relative to most species. Especially in affluent, industrialized humans. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3243481/
Human lipoprotein physiology is heavily weighted toward ApoB particles like LDL, relative to most species. Especially in affluent, industrialized humans. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3243481/
This seems like the most straightforward explanation for our unusual susceptibility to atherosclerosis-related diseases like heart attack and stroke.
Another interesting theory suggested by @Plantbiased is that the evolution of bipedalism and high physical performance potential required high blood pressure, which makes us susceptible to hypertensive heart disease. https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/30/5/713/2324791
In addition, @MarilynMann suggested that it could involve our weird sialic acid biology-- our lack of endogenous Neu5Gc. I don't know how strong of a hypothesis this is overall, but it does have some support from rodent models. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/16036
Addendum: @LammingLab disagrees that cardiovascular-related deaths are common in rodents, although it seems that everyone agrees they do occur sometimes. https://twitter.com/LammingLab/status/1304912117523505152
