Who has heart attacks?
In the Viet Nam War, some investigators studied the coronary arteries of war casualties and found that at about age 30, plaques were already forming on the inside of arteries. Newer studies in recent years show that plaques in the coronary arteries can start to form in late teenage years. That doesn’t mean that if you are 20 years old you are going to have a heart attack. It means that plaques start to form. When a person presents to the ER, who is less than 40 years of age, complaining of chest pain, the diagnostic task is made somewhat more difficult and requires that the ER doctor evaluate the “risk factors” of that patient and decide “what are the chances that this young person has ‘heart disease’ or blocked arteries?” The history and symptoms, of course, are critical to that decision. Smokers are at a significantly higher risk of having a heart attack at an early age than non-smokers. Diabetes is also a significant risk factor. Obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure el
