RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The death rate from cardiovascular disease in this country has been dropping for decades. That’s the good news. The bad news is, we don't seem to be very good at assessing our own cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Which means many people may not be seeking—much less receiving—therapy and treatments they need in order to stay healthy. Researchers confirmed this troubling “not me” phenomenon in a brand-new study comparing peoples’ perception of their cardiovascular disease risk versus their actual risk.
Surprising ways to protect your heart:
Avoid heavy traffic.
Smile and be happy.
Breastfeed your baby.
Solve your marital problems.
Fill your heart with love!
THE DETAILS: Researchers examined 3,022 people, average age 44, all of whom are participating in the ongoing Dallas Heart Study. Thanks to collected data, the researchers knew each person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, which ranged from low to high. The purpose of this study was to see how peoples’ perceived risk compared with their actual risk. Somewhat alarmingly, almost half (45 percent) of the subjects with high actual risk of cardiovascular disease thought that their risk was low.
Read on to learn how to tell if your risk of cardiovascular disease is higher than you think.
WHAT IT MEANS: We could all use a reality check about our heart health. As part of the study, the researchers asked subjects various questions about their health status as it relates to CVD risk, and learned the following:
• Awareness of one’s high stress level, as well as awareness of one’s poor overall health, tended to make people better “perceivers” of their high risk of cardiovascular disease, according to lead researcher Jarett D. Berry, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
• On the other hand, awareness of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, was not as effective at prompting people to accurately perceive their high risk.
• There was no difference in cardiovascular disease risk perception between men and women.
• People with an accurate perception of their high risk tended to have been counseled by their physicians about exercise, diet, or weight loss in connection with their cardiovascular disease status. “We think the counseling aspect may be the most interesting and important outcome from this study,” says Dr. Berry. It clearly points to the importance of working with your doctor to maintain good heart health.
Everyone should know his or her cardiovascular disease risk by the age of 40, advises the American Heart Association (AHA). If you have a family member who had heart disease at an early age (before 65 for women; before 55 for men), you should know your cardiovascular disease risk by age 20. The AHA offers an online tool to help you determine your risk. To use the tool, you’ll need to know your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, as well as your height, weight, and waist circumference. If you don’t know some of this information, get it. You can call your doctor’s office to get the numbers from your last checkup. No recent checkup? Schedule one. According to Men's Health magazine, you should know 5 vital signs that reflect the health of your heart: LDL and HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), and resting heart rate. Also know how to properly measure your waist size, a heart disease risk factor that many people, including doctors, don't properly assess, according to Prevention magazine. Healthy waistline maximums are 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men.