Heart disease risk
Heart disease risk
Your heart disease risk is the chance of you getting heart disease in the next 10 years. This obviously assumes that you do not have heart disease already.
Hopefully your heart disease risk is lower or about the same as the average for the population for your age and gender or it may be slightly above the average or much higher than the average.
If you knew that your risk was high then hopefully you want to do what you reasonably can to get it as close as possible to the average. A higher than average heart disease risk does not necessarily mean you will soon die of heart disease and some people with low risks do die of heart disease. That is because our health is a complex subject and even the medics do not yet understand it all.
It is possible to study an individual and this is done by looking at three groupings of heart disease risk factors:
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Family history
If you have a history of heart disease in your family then you may have a higher heart disease risk -
Lifestyle
If you have a less than optimal life style then this may contribute to a higher chance of heart problems -
Health conditions
If you have such health conditions as high blood pressure, diabetes, abnormal cholesterol etc. then these may have a negative affect also.
OK so now you know the basic outline of the problem but what you really need to know is how this all applies to you.
How do you judge if you have a family history of heart disease?
You probably have an idea if your lifestyle is poor if you are overweight or if you smoke but how poor is it and what difference does it make.
If you do suffer with hypertension or diabetes then these are negative heart disease risk factors but the severity will depend on how these conditions are being treated.
The only proper way to get an assessment of your heart disease risk is to get outside help to look at you as an individual and study your data or to “crunch you numbers”.
Ultimately you may need professional medical help including medication to sufficiently lower your risk but there is a lot you can do before you get to that point even if it becomes necessary.
The place to start is to get a thorough personal risk assessment where you first record your data and let the program assess where you are now on the heart disease risk scale.
By using the MyHeartRisk personal heart disease risk assessment you get help and the time to enter data about yourself and your family members. You get back invaluable aids to both yourself and to share with your doctor including
You owe it to yourself and your family to look after yourself. Heart disease is the leading cause of death and preventing heart disease or at least postponing it for as long as possible is a sensible precaution that you can take starting today.
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This is part of the MyHeartRisk (My Heart Risk) series on how to prevent heart disease including:
- Family history of heart disease
- Family heart disease
- How is your heart like your car?
- My heart risk score
- Your heart disease risk calculator and report writer
- Heart attack risk
- BMI and heart disease
MyHeartRisk mission: To help users better understand their personal heart disease risk factors and how to advocate for themselves with their health care providers for a more healthy and potentially longer life. To ask the question ‘What is my heart risk’ and get not only a personalized response but to have a partner on the road to improved health and longevity.
Join our MyHeartRisk online family by taking our newsletter then we can keep you informed and to get you started you will receive a free ebook
‘Preventing your heart disease’
We hope you will take this opportunity to lower your heart disease risk.
