When you think of heart attacks or other serious, life-threatening heart problems, you probably picture a middle-aged man or woman, or maybe somebody elderly. But heart attacks can hit the young, too.
In fact, many young people don’t take their heart health seriously enough because they don’t believe that they’re at risk. No matter how young you are, it’s never too soon to take your heart health seriously.
At Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center in Tomball, Texas, our cardiac team wants you to pay attention to your heart health today, no matter how old or how young you may be.
As part of Heart Health Awareness Month, we outline some of the heart problems you should be aware of today.
Thanks to preventive treatments and behaviors (such as quitting smoking), heart attacks are generally on the decline.
But of those that do occur, they’re striking at an alarming rate among women and men who are younger than 40. In fact, heart attacks (aka, myocardial infarctions) in this group have increased by 2% each year over the last decade.
In addition, younger women and men who have heart attacks are more likely to experience a stroke or additional heart attacks. They’re also at greater risk of dying due to these cardiac events.
Heart disease may develop at a young age, especially if you were subjected to risk factors in your youth. You’re at increased risk for heart disease if you are or were:
You’re also at risk if you have undiagnosed and unmanaged high blood pressure (aka, hypertension), which is known as the “silent killer” because it has no symptoms. High cholesterol levels also raise your risk.
Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death among young athletes. The condition usually occurs when the electrical signals of the heart become dysregulated, and that causes the lower heart chambers to beat too quickly without pumping sufficient blood.
Any type of electrical dysfunction in your heart can increase your risk of sudden death. You might also be at increased risk of sudden cardiac death if you have an enlarged heart, experience a chest injury, or have a congenital heart defect.
Preventive cardiac screenings can identify warning signs before you develop symptoms of heart disease or other cardiac issues. By catching potential problems early, we can more easily treat the condition.
Consider early screening if you have a family or personal history of heart problems or if you have other risk factors for cardiac disease.
After we review of your personal and family medical histories and conduct a physical exam, we may recommend cardiac studies such as:
We also may also give you a Holter monitor to wear, which evaluates heart-related symptoms as you go about your daily activities.
A Holter monitor is a portable device that records your heart’s electrical activity for up to 48 hours. It can identify irregular heartbeats and other issues that wouldn’t show up on other types of tests.
Depending on your test results, we then either give you an all-clear with prevention recommendations or customize a treatment plan. Options may include:
We might also perform minimally invasive cardiac procedures such as cardiac catheterization to improve blood flow through the heart and lower your heart attack and stroke risk.
Contact us at Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center today to schedule a preventive heart screening. You can also book a consultation online.
