New Chart Helps Identify Heart Disease Risk
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The National Lipid Association (NLA) recently released an ‘infographic’ that, according to the person who contacted me on behalf of the NLA, is intended “to help people better understand their cholesterol to help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.”
And indeed, I think it’s a very useful chart. Essentially, it helps you visualize your heart disease risk by turning the major risk factors into a series of easy questions; these questions help determine your heart disease risk and serve as a basis for discussion with your doctor:
You can also find this chart on the National Lipid Association’s “Learn Your Lipid” site.
As I wrote about in both The NEW Guidelines For Cholesterol-Lowering Statin Meds and also, New Cholesterol Guidelines – An App For That, when the American Heart Association published the new cholesterol guidelines in November 2013, there was a new focus on determining a person’s 10-year risk of heart disease rather than treating LDL (bad) cholesterol to a specific level. In broad strokes the new guidelines state that if you are in one of the following four groups you have elevated heart disease risk and should take statins:
- those who already have cardiovascular disease
- anyone with LDL (bad) cholesterol of 190 mg/dL or higher
- anyone between 40 and 75 years of age who has Type 2 diabetes
- people between 40 and 75 who have an estimated 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease of 7.5 percent or higher.
What’s great about this NLA chart is that it works in tandem with the new guidelines – and helps people easily see if they are at risk. Net, this infographic quickly flags those who may fall into risk groups #2 or #4 above.
For example, for risk group #2, using the NLA infographic will ensure you know your total cholesterol – so you can see if LDL cholesterol is 190 mg/dL or higher and thus at risk.
And for risk group #4, the questions asked by the NLA infographic help you determine (without using a calculator!) if you might be at an elevated risk of heart disease. That’s because the questions asked in the chart (if you smoke, are overweight, have diabetes and/or high blood pressure, etc) are the very factors that feed into the AHA’s 10-year risk calculator. (If this link doesn’t work, check my RESOURCES page for updates.)
So have a look at this chart and if you answer ‘yes’ to the items in step 1, make sure you have your total cholesterol checked and talk to your doctor about your heart disease risk.
