What are some of the risk factors for heart disease?
The number one preventable risk factor for coronary artery disease among women, particularly young women, is smoking. Family history is important, though obviously that isn’t something we can control. Controllable risk factors include high blood pressure, high LDL (bad) cholesterol, high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol, which is the good cholesterol. Women over the age of 20 should know their cholesterol numbers. Other factors are sedentary lifestyle, obesity and adult onset diabetes, a condition in which sugar is not metabolized properly. Women at risk for diabetes should have a fasting blood sugar test. In addition, the metabolic syndrome, which is defined by, among other characteristics, increased waist size compared to hip circumference, high blood pressure and glucose intolerance, or high blood sugar, dramatically raises risk of heart disease. Women need to be proactive and know what their numbers are in terms of the risk factors, and if their doctor hasn’t checked it yet, t
