Heart disease occurs in young people too

The heart disease – which can lead to heart attacks and strokes – does not discriminate by age. Fortunately, some of the things you do earlier in your life can help keep you healthy for years to come, Fox News reports.

According to Dr. Tara Narula, a cardiologist for Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, both genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to the development of heart disease in younger individuals.

“Especially in the young, we know that smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for early heart disease and heart attack…” Narula said. “Also cocaine use drives a lot of heart attacks that we see in the young. But if people are pre-disposed to having high-cholesterol, or if they're hypertensive or overweight, these all play in to younger people having earlier heart attacks as well.”

To best prevent heart attacks and stroke, Narula recommends that everyone over the age of 20 have their blood pressure checked every one to two years – as well as their cholesterol every five years.  

“We always ask people about their family history,” Narula said.  “We figure out what their cholesterol is, what their blood pressure is, whether they have diabetes, how much they exercise, whether they smoke, how much they drink, and we kind of put all of these together and calculate their risk of having a cardiovascular event in the next 10 years.”

For an individual between the ages of 40 and 79, physicians calculate a cardiovascular disease risk score, depending on the patient’s family history and lifestyle factors.  If a person’s risk is 7.5 percent or higher, he or she is often prescribed statins – drugs that help to lower cholesterol.  Aspirin has also been shown to help some people who are at high to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease.

Though patients cannot control their family history or age, Narula encourages everyone to better understand the lifestyle factors that contribute to heart disease – so they can avoid unhealthy habits and ultimately prevent the condition.