Heart disease 101

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prevention and treatment

How Can You Prevent Heart Disease?
While you can’t control your age, gender, or family history, decreasing the risk factors you can control will go a long way in preventing cardiovascular disease.

• Don’t smoke.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Control blood pressure.
• Control cholesterol (in particular, “bad” LDL cholesterol).
• Control diabetes.
• Eat a heart-healthy diet.
• Ask your doctor about taking aspirin.
• Manage stress.

How Do Doctors Treat It?
Doctors treat each specific type of cardiovascular disease according to what’s best for that condition. Coronary artery disease may be treated with bypass surgery, while arrhythmia may be treated with a pacemaker. Many doctors will advise a combination of lifestyle change (increasing activity, improving diet, etc.) as well as medical therapy (prescription medication, surgery, etc.).

SOURCES: American Heart Association, WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, National Women’s Health Information Center, American College of Cardiology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute