The Risk Factors of Coronary Heart Disease

Coronary heart disease is a condition where a fatty substance (atheroma), consisting mainly of cholesterol, gets deposited on the inside lining of the walls of arteries. This process cause the arteries to narrow and their walls become stiffer and less elastic, this is called atherosclerosis.

How the fat gets into the walls of the arteries is not known precisely, but we do know that people with certain risk factors are more likely to get coronary heart disease than those who don’t have those risk factors. But we have to realize that just because a person has a risk factor, for example, being a smoker or having high cholesterol, does not mean that he will definitely get coronary heart disease. This explains why some people, albeit only a tiny minority, live to a good age, even if they smoke or have high cholesterol. Also, people without risk factors still get angina and die from a heart attack.

Here are things that increase the risk factors of a person getting coronary heart disease, and these are now well established and accepted. Here they are:

• getting older.
• Smoking.
• High cholesterol (blood fat) level in the blood, particularly the “bad” LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol.
• High blood pressure (greater than 140/85).
• Diabetes (high blood sugar level)
• Being overweight.
• Stress.
• Not exercising regularly.
• A family history of heart attack or angina below the age of 55 years of age.

Also, I want to give you things that lower the risk of coronary heart disease, here those are:

• Young age.
• Never having smoked or having stopped completely more than 10 years ago. Someone who stopped smoking more than 10 years previously has the same risk of getting coronary heart disease as someone who has never smoked. The risk of getting coronary heart disease is reduced the first day that a smoker stops smoking. The sooner smokers stop, the sooner they lower their risk.
• Normal blood pressure (less than 140/85).
• Low cholesterol level (LDL cholesterol less than 2.0 mmol/l).
• High “good” HDL cholesterol level.
• Low-fat, healthy diet (fresh fruit and vegetables). Avoiding junk food.
• Doing lots of exercise (30 minutes of hard, sweaty cardiovascular exercise per day – running, jogging, cycling are best).
• Being slim (flat tummy).
• Having a normal blood sugar level – no diabetes.
• Low-stress levels, relaxed, chilled out as much of the time as possible, content, at ease and in control.
• Having fit, healthy parents in their 90s (this is not so easy to arrange!)
• One unit of alcohol per day (remember all alcohol is fattening, particularly, beer).

Hopefully this post about the risk factors of coronary heart disease could help you or your family. Also, by knowing its risk factor I hope we all are able to avoid things caused coronary heart disease.