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| If you haven't ever had any evidence of heart disease and don't have any symptoms of heart disease, an accurate history and physical examination will help determine if exercise stress testing with echo/nuclear isotope would be helpful to stratify your risk. Blood tests for cholesterol, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and inflammation may also be helpful. Risk factor stratification including age, smoking history, family history, cholesterol level and blood pressure control as well as previous stroke or peripheral vascular disease symptoms, all are useful in determining the necessity and urgency of further testing. |
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| Absolutely. A healthy lifestyle, which includes moderate exercise, low fat diet, and most importantly not smoking, will help decrease the risk of heart disease. However, the risk will not be zero in anyone since genetic, and other factors currently not discovered or well understood will still be present. In order to reach the lowest possible risk, one should refrain from smoking, any "recreational" drug use, and extremely stressful situations for prolonged periods of time. |
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| Not necessarily. While the risk of death with a heart attack is quite high before reaching the hospital (almost 50%), once a heart attack patient reaches a qualified emergency room, the risk decreases significantly and approximates 10%. Hence, it is extremely important that early warning signs of heart attack such as chest pressure, tightness, pain, or burning not be ignored. Even discomfort in between the shoulder blades or discomfort radiating to the throat, jaw, or arm(s) may be significant. The sooner a cardiac patient receives appropriate treatment, the more heart muscle can be preserved and the mortality rate can drop even lower. Unfortunately, it is not yet zero, but it is hoped that with further research, more improvements will be made. |
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