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Heart Health

What Determines Risk of Heart Disease?

Some of the factors which increase your risk include:

Genetics	A close relative who developed heart disease before age 50.
Weight	Being overweight or having large weight fluctuations, especially if you gain weight around your waist (so called “apples”), versus people who gain weight on their hips or thighs (so called “pears”) who have lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Gender	Up to about 60 years of age men are at higher risk for heart disease compared to women.
Diabetes	Having diabetes greatly increases the risk of heart disease.
Smoking	Tobacco smoking greatly increases the risk of heart disease.
High Blood Pressure	Having uncontrolled blood pressure can speed up the development of heart disease.
Lack of Physical Activity	Being active lowers the body weight, blood sugar and blood pressure and it increases the HDL cholesterol.