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Your risk factor profile
The greater the number of risk factors that you have, the greater your risk of having CAD. While you cannot control risk factors such as your age, gender and heredity, for example, you can modify other risk factors, such as your weight and activity levels. Doing something about the risk factors that you can change will reduce the impact of the ones that you cannot change. It is also possible that you need medicines to control some risk factors (e.g. blood pressure, diabetes). Your doctor can explain your personal risk factor profile and what you can do to reduce your risk of CAD.
Age and gender: Men over the age of 45 years and women after the menopause are at greatest risk for heart attacks.
Heredity (including race): Certain races are more likely to have a higher risk for CAD than others, due to the presence of other factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Asians and African-Americans, for example, are more likely to have high blood pressure and diabetes than Caucasians.
Abnormal blood fat (lipid) profile: A number of special fats (lipids or lipoproteins) are normally present in your blood. Some lipids are considered bad for your heart (e.g. low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL cholesterol), while others are thought to protect your heart (e.g. high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol). The balance of these lipids is referred to as the lipid profile. Having an abnormal lipid profile increases the risk for CAD. A person’s lipid profile is affected by their age, gender, diet and genes. Some families have abnormal blood lipid levels due to a genetic condition called hyperlipidaemia.
High blood pressure increases the risk for CAD. Some people have high blood pressure due to genetics, while other people have high blood pressure due to their lifestyle (e.g. diet, lack of activity, being overweight).
Diabetes increases the risk for CAD. Diabetes is the inability to produce or respond properly to the hormone insulin, which is used to convert sugar in the blood to energy.
Smoking tobacco (cigarettes or other forms of tobacco) increases the risk of CAD by itself and also acts with other risk factors to greatly increase risk. The blood lipid profile of smokers, for example, is more abnormal than that of non-smokers.
Being overweight, particularly if the fat is around your waist, increases the risk of heart disease. Being overweight increases the risk of heart disease by itself, as well increasing other risk factors, such as raising blood pressure, inducing diabetes and altering your blood lipid profile.
Physical inactivity: Being physically inactive increases the risk for CAD. Being physically active every day helps to maintain a healthy weight, lipid profile and blood pressure, and helps to prevent diabetes. Your doctor can advise you about what is a healthy activity level for you.
Eating an unhealthy diet increases the risk for CAD. Eating a healthy diet can help improve your lipid profile, reduce high blood pressure and lose weight. Your doctor can advise you about the diet that is best for you.
Drinking too much alcohol: Moderate drinking constitutes:
For most people, this moderate drinking level can have beneficial effects on the heart. However, drinking more than this can increase the risk of heart disease.
Leading a stressful life: Stress is often mentioned as a factor that increases the risk of heart disease (it certainly increases blood pressure). However, different people respond to stress in different ways and stress is hard to measure.