Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
There is one important statistic provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that highlights the importance of Heart Health.
According to the CDC, 635,260 people die each year from this disease.
Dr. Lisa Monahanm who is a board certified cardiologist affiliated with Capital Health Medical Center-Hopewell, has been practicing for four years as a cardiologist.
She said there are many risk factors for heart disease. Some of the factors include smoking, poor diet, high blood pressure, diabetes, physical inactivity and obesity.
“Some risks are modifiable,” Monahan said. “This means we can prevent the risk from accumulating and then there are those risks that are non-modifiable. The ones that are non modifiable such as family history of heart disease, gender and age are things we can’t change those.”
According to the famed Mayo Clinic, heart disease describes a range of conditions that affect your heart. Diseases under heart disease include blood vessel diseases, for example coronary artery disease. Heart rhythm problems aka arrhythmia and heart defects you’re born with which would be congenital heart defects are also under heart disease.
Coronary artery disease is the most common heart disease Monahan sees in her career. She said the number one risk factor for coronary artery disease would be smoking.
“The one thing I would ask some of my patients to do who smoke is to quit smoking. Smoking causes considerable damage to the heart because of the vascular veins. Diabetes is also one of the most dangerous risk factors for coronary artery disease,” Monahan said.
She said the second most common disease she sees is congestive heart failure.
“Congestive heart failure is very common with an aging population because we are living much longer,” Monahan said.
Hypertension is the third most common disease she treats. For hypertension there is a diet she recommends it is called the DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
“It was a diet designed by the National Institute of Health. It has the patient restrict their salt in take, and emphasizes not eating to much red meat. As a cardiologist it is what we really recommend,” she said.
To help with prevention against certain types of heart disease people are recommended to have an active lifestyle.
Health screenings are another important aspect in prevention.
“I think screenings are very important especially if someone has a family history of heart disease,” Monahan said. “What I mean by that is if the relative is a first degree relative, who had a heart attack younger than the age of 50. That would be significant in my mind for someone to undergo screening.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, other aspects of prevention for certain types of heart disease are exercising at least 30 minutes a day, maintaining a healthy weight, reducing and managing stress and practicing good hygiene.
She said at age 30 people should get their cholesterol checked and blood pressure checked. If there are any symptoms, she said that is when you should go for stress test.
There is one piece of advice Monahan would give to someone dealing with active coronary disease.
“Really the advice would be for the patient to see their cardiologist. They must really be in tune with their body and what they feel. I like patients who have a good insight into their disease when a symptom is concerning and when it is not,” Monahan said.