Heart Disease: 8 Factors That Raise Your Risk

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, and has remained so for more than 100 years, despite significant improvements in public health.

Doctors have known for years that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. These factors are typically used to calculate a patient’s individual risk and guide treatment recommendations. But in recent years, experts have begun to think more broadly about the factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease risk.

With reduced smoking and the availability of better cholesterol and blood pressure treatments, Mortality rates from heart attacks and strokes Dr. Sadiya Khan, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, says it has been on the decline over the past half century. But several factors now threaten to slow or even reverse its progression, including increases in metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and rising rates of heart failure.

Recognizing these changes, the American Heart Association last year introduced a new risk calculator called PREVENT. The calculator includes measures of metabolic and kidney health, allowing doctors to predict the risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as heart failure. stroke.

“I don’t think the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease necessarily have changed,” says Dr. Michael Nanna, an interventional cardiac specialist at Yale School of Medicine. “But I think there’s a growing awareness of a broader range of risk factors than cardiologists traditionally thought.”

Major risk factors remain.

The condition where plaque builds up on the inner walls of blood vessels is a major concern. As plaque grows, the space for blood to flow becomes narrower, which can cause symptoms such as chest pain. Eventually, the plaque can rupture and block the arteries that carry blood to the heart and brain, potentially causing a heart attack or stroke, says Dr. Jeremy Sussman, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.