Family history plays an important part in our fate. According to some studies, if two immediate family members have had a heart attack before age 55, the risk of developing heart disease is 5 – 10 times greater than a family with no history.

One in nine women between the ages of 45-64 has some form of heart disease or stroke; this ratio soars to one in three at age 65 and beyond.
One in six men ages 45 – 64 has some form of heart or blood vessel disease and in men over 65, the ratio decreases to one in eight.

Smoking is a major cause of hart and blood vessel disease. The American Heart Association has named cigarette smoking as the most dangerous of the modifiable risk factors. Overall, smokers experience a 70% greater death rate from heart and blood vessel disease than nonsmokers. The nicotine in the smoke increases blood pressure, heart rate, and the amount of blood pumped by the heart and blood flow in the vessels in the heart. Other effects include narrowing of the vessels in the arms and legs. Nicotine is not the only bad element in cigarette smoke. Carbon monoxide gets in the blood which reduces the amount of oxygen available to the heart and all other parts of the body. Cigarette smoking also causes platelets in the blood to become still and cluster which can harm the heart and blood vessels.

Regardless of how much or how long you have smoked, when you quit smoking your risk of heart and blood vessel disease gradually decreases. Ten years after quitting, your risk of death from heart disease is almost the same if you had never smoked. It is important to stop smoking before the signs of disease appear. Don't wait until you have heart and blood vessel disease to quit, stop smoking now.

Hypertension is also known as high blood pressure. As your heart beats, it forces blood through large blood vessels in your body called arteries. Arteries take the blood from your heart to all other parts of your body. As the blood is pumped through your body, it pushes against the artery walls. Blood pressure is the force of your blood against the walls of your heart. Normally, arteries are muscular and elastic. They stretch and contract as blood goes through them. Your blood pressure consists of two numbers. The top reading is the systolic pressure (when your heart is contracting), the bottom number is the diastolic pressure (when the heart is relaxing). If your blood pressure consistently runs 140/90 or more, you may have hypertension.

When your blood pressure is continually elevated, your heart has to work extra hard to pump. When high blood pressure occurs over a long period of time, the heart tends to enlarge as it has a hard time keeping up with the demands made on it. And, high blood pressure may also contribute to hardening of the arteries of the heart and other vessels.

High blood sugar is associated with an increased risk of developing coronary artery disease, whether it necessitates diet control, oral hypoglycemics or insulin control. Hyperglycemia (carbohydrate intolerance) may be defined as a fasting blood glucose greater than 130 mg/dl. As blood sugar increases, there is an acceleration in the thickening of the coronary artery basement membrane which predisposes the patient to early development of coronary artery disease.