Video: Heart Attack Risk Factors

This Season: Tailgating; New Year, New You; Tax Time

Heart attack risk factors include age, body fat, smoking history and high blood pressure. Identify common heart attack risk factors with expert tips from a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) in this free video on heart disease.

Video Transcript

Risk factors for having a heart attack. As we've discussed earlier, anybody can have a heart attack, but you have a higher risk if you are a male over the age of forty, or a female over the age of fifty, especially if you're overweight, because then your heart has to work harder. If you live a sedentary lifestyle, your heart becomes weaker, and that increases your risk of having a heart attack. Also, if you smoke, it puts a tremendous stress on your heart to function properly. Other risk factors is if you have medical, medical conditions, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, if you suffer from diabetes, or if you have coronary artery disease. All of these place you at high risk for having a heart attack. You need to discuss these with your medical physician, and hopefully, get treatment. Another factor you're not going to be able to control is your family history. If your mother and father or other members in your family died at an early age from a heart attack, it's going to place you at a higher risk of also suffering the same fate. This is something that you also need to discuss with your medical physician.

Follow eHow: Follow @eHow

Heart Attack Risk Factors

Related Ads

Related Articles & Videos