Knowing your cholesterol numbers says you’re in charge; you’re the master of your heart health.What more do you need to track? Plenty.
Your age, race, gender, weight, diet and exercise habits and whether you have diabetes could determine your potential for a heart attack or stroke, according to new guidelines to assess and reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.
With these guidelines comes a different approach than in the past, according to Dr. Reena L. Pande, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
You’ll find there’s more emphasis on your collective risk factors, according to Pande.
It’s more important to know your personal health history, not just your cholesterol numbers.
You’ll want to discuss your risks with your physician so you can determine whether you need to make lifestyle changes and whether you’d benefit from medications.
Don’t ignore your cholesterol readings, however.You still need those. But you should also be aware of the other numbers linked to your health, according to Dr. Joel K. Kahn, clinical professor of medicine,Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit.These include:
Your blood pressure.
Your waistline circumference.You’re at greater risk for heart disease if you’re a man with a waistline that’s more than 40 inches or a woman measuring more than 35 inches around the waist (measure around your bare abdomen, just above your hipbone).
Your fasting blood sugar.
“You can have elevated blood sugar for years before you have a diabetes diag- nosis,” says Kahn, also director of cardiac wellness at Michigan Healthcare Professionals.
Having diabetes increases your risk of heart disease, according to Kahn.
The number of first-degree relatives with heart disease before age 50.
The number of minutes a week you exercise.
The amount you’re smoking.
Along with a profile of your health numbers, talk to your physician about any irregularities in your well-being.
“Do you get short of breath on exertion? Has your physical fitness deteriorated so you can’t do regular things?” asks Kahn.
Learn how your race could affect your heart health.African-Americans have a greater risk for developing heart disease and stroke. If you have concerns based on your personal history, ask about further tests to diagnose your heart health.
“I see a zillion people who want to be checked out. People come in without symptoms, see the [heart] guidelines and want to be checked out,” Kahn says.
Advanced tests include lipoprotein testing, which shows whether you have a specific type of lipoprotein, and a coronary calcium scan, which looks for specks of calcium on the walls of the coronary arteries. Positive results on either test could indicate that you’re at risk for a heart attack.
If you do have heart disease, you need to act, says Dr.William A. Zoghbi, immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology.
You need to make lifestyle changes and you need to start a drug regimen (see sidebar on statins), he says.
“It’s very important to have medication. It’s not controversial.We know it saves lives; we know it improves the quality of life,” says Zoghbi, also director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Institute at the Methodist Hospital in Houston.
If you don’t have heart disease, you’ll want to take the necessary steps to reduce your risk.This means making a serious commitment to change your lifestyle, says Zoghbi.
Get more exercise, lose weight and eat healthier foods. If you smoke, stop.
The good news is that only 25 percent of the risk of heart disease comes from genetic factors that can’t be changed.The remainder — 75 percent — comes from risk factors you can reduce, says Dr. Pande.
“People with a genetic risk for heart disease can change their risk as well,” she says.
“Take care of yourself and your outlook will be better,” says Zoghbi.
© CTW Features