Many risk factors for heart disease are well known to doctors, while others are currently under intense study to verify their role in the development of the disease. What follows are some of the well established major risk factors that increase one’s risk of developing heart disease.

Non-controllable risk factors

Advanced age

Put very simply, the older you get, the more likely you are to develop heart disease. Age causes tissues to become less resilient and the heart and blood vessels are no exception.

Male gender

Men are more likely to develop heart disease throughout their lifetime than women. However, most of this difference is accounted for by the fact that young males are more likely than young females to develop the disease because reproductive age women are protected from developing it by their high levels of the hormone estrogen. After menopause, women’s levels of estrogen drop off significantly and so post-menopausal women have almost the same rate of heart disease as similarly aged men (though their rate is still slightly lower).

Family history of heart disease

If your brother, father, or grandfather had a heart attack before age 55, or your sister, mother or grandmother had one before age 65, your risk of having a heart attack is increased. Also, if you yourself have had a previous heart attack, this also increases your risk of having subsequent heart attacks. Genetic conditions may also predispose you to having high cholesterol or triglycerides, high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity, all of which are themselves risk factors for developing heart disease.

Race

The risk of heart disease is higher in African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, and Native Hawaiians than in Caucasians. Some of this increased heart disease risk is due to a greater risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity in these populations

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetics have difficulty regulating their blood sugar due to an inability to make (type I) or respond to (type II) insulin. They also tend to have low levels of the “good” HDL cholesterol. Even if their disease is well-managed, diabetics have an increased risk of heart disease because blood sugar fluctuations tend to cause damage to the blood vessels over time and can lead to circulatory problems and atherosclerosis.

Controllable risk factors

All of the risk factors mentioned above cannot be controlled. However, several risk factors can be controlled, so if you have one or more of the risk factors above, you may want to pay special attention to limiting the risk factors that you can control.

Am I at risk for heart disease?

You can assess your own risk for heart disease by answering the following questions:

• Do you smoke?
• Is your blood pressure 140/90 mmHg or higher, OR have you been told by your doctor that your blood pressure is too high?
• Has your doctor told you that your total cholesterol level is 200 mg/dL or higher, OR your HDL (good cholesterol) is less than 40 mg/dL?
• Has your father or brother had a heart attack before age 55, OR has your mother or sister had one before age 65?
• Do you have diabetes OR a fasting blood sugar of 126 mg/dL or higher, OR do you need medicine to control your blood sugar?
• Are you over 55 years old?
• Do you have a body mass index (BMI) score of 25 - 30 or higher?
• Do you get less than a total of 30 minutes of physical activity on most days?
• Has a doctor told you that you have angina (chest pains), OR have you had a heart attack?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you have an increased risk of having a heart attack. If you have more than one of these risk factors, you should be sure to see your physician regularly and you may want to ask him or her how you can lower your risk.