You can figure out your 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease using an online calculator from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
However, the calculator isn’t without controversy. Some suggest that the data used to determine risk is too old to be useful.
Dr. William A. Zoghbi argues the merits of the calculator.
“It’s like a weather forecast: rain in four days. There’s no certainty, but a warning, a higher chance that rain will happen, ” says Dr. Zoghbi, immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology.
The calculator has a similar function to alert you to a higher risk for heart disease.
“If you see risk you have to do something to reduce it,” Dr. Zoghbi says.
For more information, visit the website of the American Heart Association at: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/HeartAttackToolsRes….