“Atherosclerosis usually starts in the teens and 20s, and by the 30s we can see changes in most people,” says cardiologist Matthew Sorrentino MD, a professor at The University of Chicago Medicine. In the early stages, your heart-related screening tests, like cholesterol checks, might still come back normal.
But over the years, this problem tends to slowly get worse. By the age of 40, about half of us have cholesterol deposits in our arteries, Sorrentino says. After 45, men may have a lot of plaque buildup. Signs of atherosclerosis in women are likely to appear after age 55.”
Link: https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/atherosclerosis-your-arteries-age-by-age
I know it starts young, but it takes time to get to the point where you keel over. Generally speaking, that’s not at age 40.
A friend of mine died two years ago from a heart attack. He was 56, which is tragic, but not that out of the ordinary.