Yahoo Lifestyle Everything you need to know about heart health
1. What is cardiovascular disease?
Cardiovascular disease is already one of Australia’s biggest health problems, and unfortunately, the number of people it affects is on the rise. The condition, which includes heart attack, stroke and other diseases of the blood vessels, is expected to affect one in four people by 2050.
Right now, experts estimate that thousands of us are living with undiagnosed high cholesterol, which puts us at risk of cardiovascular disease in the future.
The good news is that you can start taking steps to improve your cardiovascular health: ask your GP for your heart-and-stroke-risk score, and, if you need to, make lifestyle changes and take the right prescription medicines.
2. What are the signs and symptoms?
The signs of cardiovascular disease aren’t always obvious, which is why it’s often dubbed a ‘silent killer’. This means that if you’re aged 45 years or over (or 35 or over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), it’s especially important to know your cardiovascular-disease risk. This knowledge can help you and your doctor identify the steps you need to take to reduce your risk and improve your health.
3. Diagnosis:
Doctors diagnose cardiovascular disease when an event such as heart attack or stroke occurs. A doctor will take into account a person’s symptoms, do certain tests or perform other examinations to reach a specific diagnosis.
A doctor can also assess your risk of getting cardiovascular disease in the first place. A heart- and-stroke-risk score is an easy way to determine your risk, of developing cardiovascular disease and your doctor can calculate this by using the following information:
• your age
• your gender
• your blood-cholesterol level
• your blood-pressure level
• your lifestyle, such as whether you smoke or not
• other medical conditions you may have, such as diabetes.
Your risk score indicates your chance of having a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack, stroke or blood-vessel blockage, in the next five years. It is shown as a percentage that places you at low, moderate or high risk. The lower your score, the less chance you have of developing cardiovascular disease.
A risk score of less that 5% means you’re at low risk of getting cardiovascular disease in the next five years; a risk score from 10 to 15% means you’re at moderate risk; and a score of over 15% means you’re at high risk.
To have your risk score calculated or if you want further information, talk to your doctor or the nurse at your GPs rooms. When arranging an appointment to work out your risk score, you may need to ask for a longer consultation.
Useful resources printed information sheets? about your heart and stroke risk score developed by the National Heart Foundation are available from your GP or pharmacist.
Complementary medicine and lifestyle approaches to cardiovascular disease:
Doctors diagnose cardiovascular disease when an event such as heart attack or stroke occurs. A doctor will take into account a person’s symptoms, do certain tests or perform other examinations to reach a specific diagnosis.
A doctor can also assess your risk of getting cardiovascular disease in the first place. A heart- and-stroke-risk score is an easy way to determine your risk, of developing cardiovascular disease and your doctor can calculate this by using the following information:
• your age
• your gender
• your blood-cholesterol level
• your blood-pressure level
• your lifestyle, such as whether you smoke or not
• other medical conditions you may have, such as diabetes.
Your risk score indicates your chance of having a cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack, stroke or blood-vessel blockage, in the next five years. It is shown as a percentage that places you at low, moderate or high risk. The lower your score, the less chance you have of developing cardiovascular disease.
A risk score of less that 5% means you’re at low risk of getting cardiovascular disease in the next five years; a risk score from 10 to 15% means you’re at moderate risk; and a score of over 15% means you’re at high risk.
To have your risk score calculated or if you want further information, talk to your doctor or the nurse at your GPs rooms. When arranging an appointment to work out your risk score, you may need to ask for a longer consultation.
Useful resources printed information sheets? about your heart and stroke risk score developed by the National Heart Foundation are available from your GP or pharmacist.
Traditional-medicine-based treatment:
In addition to recommending lifestyle changes, your GP may prescribe medication to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. These may include medicines to lower your cholesterol or blood pressure, or to reduce your chance of blood clots, which can cause a stroke or heart attack.
One of the best ways to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease is to keep ‘bad’ (or LDL) cholesterol at a low level in the blood. You can lower your blood-cholesterol levels by modifying your diet and exercising, but many people at high risk also need help from a cholesterol-lowering medicine, even when their cholesterol levels are normal.
For these medicines to reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke, you need to take them every day for the long term. But it can be just as hard to stick with a medication regimen as it is to maintain lifestyle changes, such as adopting a healthy diet and exercising regularly. One in four Australians stop taking cholesterol-lowering medicines within the first 12 months, often because they don’t realise the drugs are making a difference.
It’s critical that you continue with the recommended lifestyle changes and take your medicines as prescribed, even if you don’t feel unwell or if you think your health has improved.
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