Understand Your Risk of Heart Attack
With cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death for adults, more than all types of cancer combined, assessing your risk of cardiovascular disease is a critical element in managing your health. The good news is that most cardiovascular disease is preventable. If you know your risk, then you will place a high priority on taking the necessary steps – such as making the important life style changes and following your doctor’s recommendations for medications – that will aid in preventing debilitating and potentially life-threatening cardiac events.
How is the risk of cardiovascular disease usually determined?
To assess the risk for having cardiovascular disease, physicians utilize various methods and laboratory tests along with traditional risk factors. Traditional risk factors include age, sex, blood pressure, diabetes history, smoking history, family history and cholesterol/triglyceride levels. Many physicians will use this information to calculate a risk score that provides your percent chance of developing cardiac disease and/or a having cardiac event in the next ten years. Your doctor will place you into a low, intermediate or high-risk category. Your risk category determines your management and treatment path based on established guidelines.
What are the problems with using the current approach to assessing cardiovascular risk?
Unfortunately, determining cardiovascular disease risk assessment by this approach has two serious problems. First, the treatment guidelines are very clear for patients that fall into the low or high-risk category. But, there are no clear guidelines for patients in the intermediate group. Second, many individuals that fall into the intermediate risk group are incorrectly classified. In fact, a significant number of individuals identified as having an intermediate risk are actually at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Most people know someone that has been faced with a heart attack that surprised even their physician. Statistics show that more than 58% of heart attacks occur in people with only 0 or 1 traditional risk factor.
How does the Aviir TruRisk test provide an improved method to assess my risk of having a heart attack?
The Aviir TruRisk test was developed to address these problems. By looking at the actual biological processes leading to cardiovascular disease, an accurate categorization of at-risk individuals within the intermediate group is available for the first time. The TruRisk Test and Risk Score will give you the knowledge you need about your risk for a cardiac event, ultimately helping you make the right choices to reduce your own risk of a heart attack.
Click below for the answers to more important questions with so you can talk to your doctor about the way the TruRisk test fits into your health and wellness plan:
- I understand you have a new test that can predict if I’m going to have a heart attack in the next 5 years. What can you tell me about it?
- I know cardiovascular disease runs in my family and I want to have this test done. How do I get tested?
- I want to have this test done but my physician doesn’t know anything about it.
- I just got my TruRisk results and I have some questions.
- I have a family member who could really benefit from this test. But, their doctor told him/her that he/she is not a candidate.
