Your total cholesterol score is calculated using the following equation: HDL + LDL + 20 percent of your triglyceride level. A person’s cholesterol level is also affected by age, sex, heredity and diet. When other risk factors (such as high blood pressure and tobacco smoke) are also present, this risk increases even more. Learn about smoking and cardiovascular disease High blood cholesterolĪs your blood cholesterol rises, so does your risk of coronary heart disease. Exposure to other people’s smoke increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking also interacts with other risk factors to greatly increase the risk for coronary heart disease. The risk that smokers will develop coronary heart disease is much higher than that for nonsmokers.Ĭigarette smoking is a powerful independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death in patients with coronary heart disease. Major risk factors you can modify, treat or control Tobacco smoke So, it’s even more important to treat and control any other modifiable risk factors you have. Just as you can’t control your age, sex and race, you can’t control your family history. Most people with a significant family history of heart disease have one or more other risk factors.
This is partly due to higher rates of obesity and diabetes. Heart disease risk is also higher among Mexican-Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian-Americans. Heredity (including race)Ĭhildren of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop heart disease themselves.Īfrican-Americans have more severe high blood pressure than Caucasians, and a higher risk of heart disease. Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women do, and men have attacks earlier in life.Įven after women reach the age of menopause, when women’s death rate from heart disease increases, women’s risk for heart attack is less than that for men. While heart attacks can strike people of both sexes in old age, women are at greater risk of dying (within a few weeks). The majority of people who die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older. The more of these risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing coronary heart disease. Since you can’t do anything about these risk factors, it’s even more important that you manage your risk factors that can be changed. You may be born with certain risk factors that cannot be changed. The three categories of risk factors are detailed here: Major risk factors that can’t be changed The sooner you identify and manage your risk factors, the better your chances of leading a heart-healthy life. To start, assess your risk factors and work to keep them low.
The American Heart Association recommends focusing on heart disease prevention early in life. Contributing risk factors – These factors are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but their significance and prevalence haven’t yet been determined.Modifiable risk factors – Some major risk factors can be modified, treated or controlled through medications or lifestyle change.Major risk factors – Research has shown that these factors significantly increase the risk of heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease.Risk factors fall into three broad categories: The more risk factors you have, and the greater the degree of each risk factor, the higher your chance of developing coronary heart disease – a common term for the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries that could lead to heart attack. Understand the risks you face for heart attack.Įxtensive research has identified factors that increase a person’s risk for coronary heart disease in general and heart attack in particular. National Hypertension Control Initiative.
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