Risk Factors: Coronary Heart Disease and Heart Attack

My mom passed out one time and got really dizzy twice in a span of 10 minutes. For a nurse like me who works on a cardiac floor, my brain started working overdrive that very first second. I was ready to give her CPR, I told my family later on. She laughed, I was serious. I'll tell you why. She had five out of the eleven risk factors for coronary heart disease and heart attack.

1. My mom is 62 years old. The risk for heart attack in women increases at age 55.

2. Coronary heart disease is hereditary. If your parents have it, it's most likely that you will develop it yourself. Both my grandparents died of heart related problems. My grandfather who was a really good musician, played his instruments all night long to the chagrin of his neighbors, then was found on the floor the next day. He (dramatically) died of heart attack. My grandmother on the other hand, had high blood pressure for a long time, which eventually contributed to the enlargement of her heart. She died in her sleep while she was in the hospital. Her older sister has high blood pressure as well, just like her.

3. My mom smokes about 5-7 sticks of cigarette a day. She has been smoking for the past 20 or so years. She stopped every time she got pregnant but went back to it as soon as she gave birth. I gave her a box of nicotine patches about 10 years ago in my effort to get her to kick the habit, knowing that it would pose problems for her in the future such as elevated blood pressure from the stimulant effect of nicotine and the constant demand for oxygen, the irreversible hardening of blood vessel walls called arteriosclerosis and lung cancer. The patches expired and remained unopened.

4. We have just learned that her Low Density Lipoprotein or LDL is elevated. This is what's more commonly known as the bad cholesterol. When the bad cholesterol is elevated, the risk for plaque formation in the arteries increases. This plaque can cause narrowing or blockage of arteries consequently leading to heart attack.

5. High blood pressure makes the heart work more. When combined with smoking and elevated cholesterol, the risk for heart attack increases dramatically.

That last statement is what scares me the most. I'm pretty sure my mom has .narrowed arteries that would one day soon cry for help. She was lucky this time, it turned out to be just really high blood pressure, although I prepared for the worse. I will not be surprised if one day, she would need revascularization via catheterization or bypass. I would have to mention the other risk factors for the benefit of the readers who may have them so that they would also be aware.

Other risk factors include inactivity, obesity or being overweight, stress, diabetes and alcohol. It is also important to mention that the male gender are at more risk for heart attack, but that doesn't mean that women should be complacent as the incidence of heart attack in women are also at an alarming level.