These days, many people are having heart attacks at a young age. Heart attacks are one of the leading causes of sudden death in people of all ages around the world. However, you can get an idea of ​​its risk before a heart attack occurs. This was told to Rafia Alam by Dr. Saif Hossain Khan, Medicine Consultant at Popular Diagnostic Center in Dhanmondi
The risk of heart attack is directly related to various factors such as age, weight, abdominal fat, blood fat, blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking. To determine the risk of heart attack, you need to pay attention to these factors.
You can get an idea about this through certain factors. However, not all tests are necessary for everyone. A doctor will decide who needs special tests and who does not, considering their physical condition.
Lifestyle and family history
Generally, the risk of heart attack is low before the age of 40.
The risk of heart attack in women is relatively low until menopause.
These calculations can change due to lifestyle and family history.
Not maintaining a healthy diet or smoking increases the risk.
To reduce the risk of heart disease, it is necessary to do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week.
If you exercise heavily, 75 minutes of exercise a week is enough.
Or a combination of these two types of exercise can also be a healthy practice.
If someone does not exercise according to these instructions, their risk of heart attack will be higher.
If there is a history of heart attack in the family, the risk of heart attack increases in subsequent generations.
Weight
It is very important to maintain a healthy weight according to height.
You can determine this relationship between height and weight with the help of body mass index or BMI.
You can also calculate BMI yourself, or take help from an online BMI calculator.
Belly fat
There is no way to assume that just being at a healthy weight will not increase the risk of heart attack. Because, the risk of heart attack increases due to fat accumulated in various places inside the abdomen.
Waist size is an important indicator of heart attack risk. For men in Asian countries, if the waist size is 35.5 inches or more and for women, if it is 31.5 inches or more, the risk of heart attack increases.
The ratio of waist to hip size is another good indicator. For men in Asian countries, if this size is more than 95th percentile, and for women, if it is more than 85th percentile, the risk of heart attack increases.
Blood pressure, diabetes and blood fat
Many times, there are no symptoms of high blood pressure, diabetes and increased blood fat.
If you are affected by such diseases, the risk of heart attack increases. Therefore, blood pressure should be measured occasionally at any age.
Diabetes should be tested every year after the age of 40. And that too not only with fingertip blood. Rather, blood sugar should be measured by taking blood from a vein on an empty stomach and two hours after eating 75 grams of glucose.
Apart from this, it is also important to check the level of blood fat (lipid profile) and HbA1c once a year for people over 40. This is also important for diagnosing diabetes.
There is an online calculator
If you want, you can determine your risk of heart attack with the help of an online calculator using some such information. One such reliable calculator is called ASCVD Risk Estimator Plus. You can use this calculator from the American College of Cardiology for free.
Any person aged 20-79 can determine their risk of heart attack from here. What the score means is also mentioned there.
Some other special tests
A doctor, considering various aspects of a person’s health, orders some special tests. ECG, echocardiogram, exercise tolerance test (ETT) are some of the tests.
Apart from this, the amount of fat accumulated inside the body can be determined through a DEXA scan. The VO2max test measures how much oxygen your body can use during exercise, but it is not routinely necessary to have this test.
Get real time update about this post category directly on your device, subscribe now.
