Uncontrollable Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Heart disease is a broad medical term that refers to any acute or chronic condition that affects the heart. The disease may be functional or structural and encompasses anything that causes damage to the heart, makes it less efficient, reduces its ability to fill and pump, or decreases its supply of oxygen.
Factors that contribute to heart disease but can be controlled include smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, a sedentary lifestyle and diabetes. Here is a look at other risk factors that cannot be controlled.
Other People Are Reading
-
Major Uncontrollable Risk Factors
-
The major uncontrollable risk factors for heart disease include age, gender, heredity and race, and unfortunately, all of these have a significant impact on your likelihood of having a heart attack. Response to stress is another important factor, though it is debatable whether it can be controlled. Nonetheless, there are techniques that can help you learn to manage and respond to stress more effectively.
Age
-
Age is a significant factor in heart disease, and old age makes patients more likely to suffer a fatal heart attack. According to the American Heart Association, more than 83 percent of patients who die of heart disease are age 65 or older. Furthermore, older women who suffer from a heart attack are more likely than men to die from it within a few weeks.
-
Gender
-
Gender also has an impact on your likelihood of developing heart disease. The American Heart Association claims that men have a higher risk of suffering from a heart attack than women and are also likely to suffer from one at a younger age. The number of fatal heart attacks in females decreases after menopause.
Heredity
-
Individuals whose parents suffered from heart disease are more likely to develop the condition than those without any such family history.
Race
-
African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native Hawaiians, Asian-Americans and Native Americans have a higher risk of heart disease than Caucasians, which may be partly a result of higher rates of diabetes and obesity among these groups. In addition, African-Americans also tend to have more instances of high blood pressure than Caucasians, which is another risk factor in heart disease.
-
