Traditional Risk Factors Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Traditional Risk Factors Don’t
Tell the Whole Story

Dr. Boone of the Boone Heart Institute discusses why traditional risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol don’t tell the whole story when it comes to your heart health.

One thing I’ve found problematic in the quest to pioneer the prevention of heart disease is the fact that it is frustrating about half the people who have cardiovascular disease don’t know it and it is not well predicted by traditional risk factors.

You could almost say it is dangerous to have good cholesterol level because you are somehow fooled into thinking you’re fine.

And certainly it is better to be in the low cholesterol group than the high cholesterol group. But it’s not something to bet your life on.

Just the reverse of that, the people who have the highest cholesterol are in the position to be treated. Now still, even many of these people don’t have plaque and the dangers associated with plaque.

There are a variety of risk factors such as blood pressure, blood sugar, smoking, family history, diet, and exercise and how they affect the individual from a genetic standpoint. That’s why we can’t definitely determine who has a problem based on these risk factors.

That is not to say these risk factors are not important. I tell most doctors and patients that everything they know is likely true about these risk factors. But there is just a lot more on top of that, which has not been explored.

If we get to that point and explore that, then I think we can eliminate the disease. We can literally eradicate this disease. But it is going to take a marshaling of those forces to find out who is in trouble early-on and how do we reverse that process.

The post Traditional Risk Factors Don’t Tell the Whole Story appeared first on Boone Heart Institute.

Symptoms of Heart Disease

Symptoms of Heart Disease

Heart disease is a diagnosis used to describe a handful of different illnesses and diseases that affect the heart.  Some causes can often fall under the term of heart disease include those that a person is born with, such as congenital heart disease. Others that affect the heart’s rhythm may be arrhythmias and diseases that affect the blood vessels like coronary artery disease.

Someone who has a variety of conditions, which may include blocked or narrowed blood vessels is sometimes referred to as having a cardiovascular disease.

Heart disease kills more adults in the United States than all forms of cancer combined and 40 percent of deaths in the United States are attributed to heart disease.  The number one killer of all men and women in the entire world is heart disease.  Heart disease is preventable and as Dr. Jeffery Boone says “No one should ever die of a heart attack.”

Symptoms of Cardiovascular Disease

1)   Shortness of breath
2)   Chest pain
3)   A tingling or numbing sensation or weakness in your limbs

Symptoms of Abnormal Heartbeats

1)   Fluttering in your chest
2)   Fast heartbeat
3)   Chest pain
4)   Slow or weak heartbeat
5)   Dizziness
6)   Feeling faint or passing out
7)   Shortness of breath

Symptoms of a Heart Defect

1)   Unexplained swelling around the eyes, the abdomen and the legs
2)   Blue or gray toned skin
3)   Difficulty breathing while eating

The post Symptoms of Heart Disease appeared first on Boone Heart Institute.

The Boone Heart Institute Celebrates Heart Health Month

The Boone Heart Institute Celebrates Heart Health Month

February is Heart Health month around the world. For the Boone Heart Institute, it is a celebration of the advancements made to eradicate Heart Disease, but also a reminder there is more work to be done.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women. Though it is the #1 killer, it is also one of the most preventable diseases.

At the Boone Heart Institute, we have always maintained the ultimate goal of eradicating heart disease.