Heart disease describes a variety of disorders and conditions that can affect the heart. While heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men, it can be prevented. You can lower your risk of heart disease by managing or reducing your risk factors and by making healthy lifestyle changes. The more knowledge you have about your family's medical history, the better prepared you'll be to prevent heart disease.
Heart Disease Prevention at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is committed to improving your health, well being and quality of life. We use the P4 Medicine (predictive, preventive, personalized, participatory) approach to healthcare, which focuses on personalized methods to prevent and treat heart disease.
Heart disease prevention resources at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center include:
When it comes to your heart health, we understand there are many risk factors beyond your control, but we're committed to helping you take steps to prevent heart disease before problems arise.
Risk Factors for Heart Disease
There are multiple risk factors for heart disease; some you can control, and others you can't.
Uncontrollable risk factors include:
- Age (your risk increases the older you get)
- Family history (if you have a male relative with heart disease before the age of 55 or a female relative with heart disease before the age of 65, you may have an increased risk)
- Race (African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians, native Hawaiians and South Asian Americans have an increased risk of heart disease)
Controllable Risk Factors
Risk factors you can work on to prevent heart disease include: