What are the causes and risk factors for a heart attack?
As a critical illness, heart attacks have several causes and underlying risk factors, including: • build-up of fatty plaques on the inner lining of the coronary arteries, called ‘atherosclerosis’ • smoking tobacco • raised cholesterol • high blood pressure • diabetes • family history of heart disease • gender: men have a relatively greater predisposition to heart disease. • Obesity Fortunately, most of the aforementioned risk factors are modifiable, meaning that an individual can take certain actions to reduce the likelihood of suffering a heart attack.
