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A study of mummies shows that heart disease plagued ancient people as well
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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People often think of heart disease as a byproduct of modern fast-food living, but new research suggests the condition has been plaguing humanity for centuries. The findings were published in the European Heart Journal.
CT scans found that more than a third (37%) of 237 adult mummies from seven different cultures spanning more than 4,000 years had signs of blocked arteries.
The researchers say the findings show that people have an innate risk of atherosclerosis - a build-up of plaque in the arteries that can lead to heart attack and stroke.
"We found atherosclerosis in all time periods - going back to 2500 B.C. - in men and women, in all seven cultures we studied, among both elites and non-elites," said lead researcher Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo. "This further confirms our previous observation that this is not just a modern condition caused by our modern lifestyle."
(A) Volume reconstruction of a computed tomography scan showing extensive atherosclerosis (arrows) in the aorta of a female mummy from ancient Peru (Rosita). (B) Multiplanar reconstruction: Sagittal view of a CT scan shows heavy calcification in the left carotid bulb (arrow). (C) Thick-slice maximum intensity projection: Modified coronal CT scan shows heavy calcium deposition in the coronary arteries of a female Egyptian mummy from the late Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate Period. (D) Number of mummies with absent, mild to moderate (one to two vascular areas affected), and severe (three to five vascular areas affected) atherosclerotic calcification for each of 13 eras. Atherosclerotic calcifications were observed in mummies from all eras. BCE, Before the Common Era; CE, Common Era.
The researchers said the mummies came from different parts of the world, including ancient Egyptians, ancient lowland Peruvians, ancient Andean highland Bolivians, 19th-century Aleutian hunter-gatherers, 16th-century Greenlandic Inuit, Ancestral Puebloans and medieval Gobi Desert herders.
Most of the cases were consistent with early-stage heart disease, which is often found on CT scans of modern patients, the researchers said.
"This study shows that modern cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, when added to the innate risks that come with aging, can increase the extent and impact of atherosclerosis," Thompson said in a St. Luke's news release. "That's why it's especially important to control those risk factors we can control."