Causes of Heart Disease (Cont.)

Heart Disease Information

Causes of Heart Disease: Know the Risk Factors

Although heart disease risk factors are not actual causes of heart disease, they do increase a person's chances of developing it. Risk factors for heart disease include:

Age (being a man 45 years or older, or a woman 55 or older)
Being male
Having high cholesterol levels, also known as hypercholesterolemia (see Cholesterol and Heart Disease)
Having high blood pressure, also known as hypertension (see Effects of High Blood Pressure)
Having diabetes (see Diabetes and Heart Disease)
Being overweight or obese (see Obesity and Heart Disease; click BMI Calculator to find your ideal weight)
Being physically inactive (see Heart Disease and Exercise)
Smoking (see Smoking and Heart Disease)
Having close relatives with heart disease at younger ages (heart disease diagnosed before age 55 in a father or brother or before age 65 in a mother or sister).

If a person has risk factors for heart disease, it does not necessarily mean that he or she will get heart disease. Many people with risk factors never develop heart disease, while people with no risk factors can develop it.

(Click Heart Disease Risk to calculate your risk for heart disease over the next 10 years.)

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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD

Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD

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