Prevent a Heart Attack

Heart Attack Information

What You Need to Know to Prevent a Heart Attack

In most cases, the underlying cause of a heart attack is heart disease (also called coronary artery disease, or CAD), and the cause of heart disease is the thickening and hardening of the inside walls of arteries. This is called atherosclerosis. Some hardening of the arteries occurs normally as you grow older, but certain risk factors can increase the rate at which atherosclerosis develops.

Heart disease and heart attacks share most of the same risk factors, and while certain risks for heart attacks and heart disease cannot be changed, it is important to realize that you do have control over many others.

Heart attack risk factors that you cannot control include:

Age
Family history of early heart disease.

Risk factors that you can do something about include:

High cholesterol, also known as hypercholesterolemia (see Cholesterol and Heart Attack)
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension (see Effects of High Blood Pressure)
Cigarette smoking (see Heart Attack and Smoking)
Diabetes (see Diabetes and Heart Disease)
Being overweight or obese (see BMI Calculator to find your ideal weight)
Lack of physical activity.

The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance having a heart attack.

(Click Heart Disease Risk to learn more about your risk in the next 10 years.)

(Prevent a Heart Attack Continued: Page 3)
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