Who Is At Risk for a Heart Attack?
Certain risk factors make it more likely that you
will develop
coronary artery disease (CAD) and have a heart attack. Some
risk factors for heart attack can be controlled, while others can't.
Major risk factors for heart attack that you can
control include:
Risk factors that you can't change include:
- Age. Risk increases for men older than 45 years
and for women older than 55 years (or after menopause).
- Family history of early CAD. Your risk increases
if your father or a brother was diagnosed with CAD before 55 years of age, or
if your mother or a sister was diagnosed with CAD before 65 years of age.
Certain CAD risk factors tend to occur together.
When they do, its called
metabolic
syndrome. In general, a person with metabolic syndrome is twice as likely
to develop heart disease and five times as likely to develop diabetes as
someone without metabolic syndrome. |