Calculate Your Heart Disease Risk
What is Your Risk of Developing Heart Disease or of Having a Heart Attack?
In general, the higher your LDL level and the more risk factors you have (other than LDL), the greater your chances of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. Some people are at high risk for a heart attack because they already have heart disease. Other people are at high risk for developing heart disease because they have diabetes (which is a strong risk factor) or a combination of risk factors for heart disease.
Follow these 3 easy steps to know your risk for developing heart disease:
Step 1: Check the table below to see how many of the listed risk factors you have; these are the risk factors that affect your LDL goal.
Major Risk Factors That Affect Your LDL Goal
- Cigarette smoking
- High blood pressure (140/90 mmHg or higher or on blood pressure medication)
- Low HDL cholesterol (less than 40 mg/dL)*
- Family history of early heart disease (heart disease in father or brother before age 55; heart disease in mother or sister before age 65)
- Your Age (men 45 years or older; women 55 years or older)
* If your HDL cholesterol is 60 mg/dL or higher, subtract 1 from your total count.
Even though obesity and physical inactivity are not counted in this list, they are conditions that need to be corrected.
Step 2: How many major risk factors do you have? If you have 2 or more risk factors in the table above, use these risk scoring tables (which include your cholesterol levels) to find your risk score. Risk score refers to the chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years, given as a percentage. My risk score is ________%.
Step 3: Use your medical history, number of risk factors, and risk score to find your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack in the table below.
| If You Have | You Are in Category |
|---|---|
| Heart disease, diabetes, or risk score more than 20%* | I. High Risk |
| 2 or more risk factors and risk score 10-20% | II. Next Highest Risk |
| 2 or more risk factors and risk score less than 10% | III. Moderate Risk |
| 0 or 1 risk factor | IV. Low-to-Moderate Risk |
* Means that more than 20 of 100 people in this category will have a heart attack within 10 years.
My risk category is _______________.
The higher your risk category, the more important it is to lower your LDL and control any other heart disease risk factors (including smoking and high blood pressure) you have. Further, the higher your risk category, the more you’ll benefit from taking action. But whatever your risk category, you will use the TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes) approach as a basic part of your treatment.
