Three Easy Steps to Determine if You Are At Risk of Suffering a Heart Attach

Mar 1

10:20

2008

Ian Mackie

The numbers are not pretty: every 20 seconds a person in the US suffers from a heart attack. Every 34 seconds, someone in the U.S. DIES from a heart attack. Over 2500 Americans die EVERY DAY from heart disease. Follow these steps to help determine your risk for developing heart disease.

In general, the higher your LDL level and the more risk factors you have (other than LDL), the greater your chances of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. Some people are at high risk for a heart attack because they already have heart disease. Other people are at high risk for developing heart disease because they have diabetes (which is a string risk factor) or a combination or risk of risk factors for heart disease. Follow these steps to find out your risk for developing heart disease.

Step 1:

Check the list below to see how many of the listed risk factors your have.

Major risk factors that affect your LDL goal:

Cigarette smoking
High blood pressure (140/90 mmHg or higher on blood pressure medication)
Low HDL cholesterol (less than 40 mg)*
Family history of early heart disease (heart disease in father or brother before age 55; heart disease in mother or sister before age 65)
Age (men 45 years or older; women 55 years or older)

*If your HDL cholesterol is 60 mg/dL or higher, subtract 1 from your total count.

Even though obesity and physical inactivity are not counted in this list, they are conditions that need to be corrected.

Step 2

How many major risk factors do you have? If you have 2 or more risk factors in the list on the previous page, use the risk scoring tables (which include your cholesterol levels) to find your risk score. Risk score refers to the chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years, given as a percentage. (use the Framingham Point Scores)

My 10-year risk score is %.

Step3

Use your medical history, number of risk factors, and risk score to find your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack from the numbers below:

If You Have:

Heart disease, diabetes, or risk score more than 20%* - You Are in a HIGH RISK category
2 or more risk factors and risk score 10-20% - You Are in the NEXT HIGHEST RISK category
2 or more risk factors and risk score less than 10% - You Are in the MODERATE RISK category
0 or 1 risk factor - You Are in the LOW-TO-MODERATE category

*Means that more than 20 of 100 people in this category will have a heart attack within 10 years.

My risk category is.

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