PLATTSBURGH — Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, and to raise awareness, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute branded February as American Heart Month.
“Why is it important to talk about heart month? Heart disease is fairly common and most people do not even know they are at risk of heart disease,” Dr. Anthony Conti, founder of Lake Champlain Imaging, said.
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men and women. Every 33 seconds–someone dies of heart disease. One in five are under the age of 65-years-old. When we hear these stories about this, and we all experience it ourselves, a family member, a friend, a neighbor, we all say to ourselves, ‘Wow, they seemed young, who could have known?’ But that is a big misconception.”
According to the NHLBI, most middle-aged and young adults have one or more risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or being a smoker or overweight.
Having multiple risk factors increases the risk of heart disease. These factors include age, family history and lifestyle factors such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity.
“There are factors we cannot control, like age and family history,” Dr. Conti said.
“But there are lifestyle factors that increase risk, such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, overweight, physical inactivity and unhealthy diets.”
According to the NHLBI, cardiovascular disease is the term for all types of diseases that affect the heart or blood vessels which can cause heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and peripheral artery disease.
“Heart disease” is a catch-all phrase for a variety of conditions that affect the heart’s structure and function, the most common is coronary heart disease.
While all heart diseases are cardiovascular diseases, not all cardiovascular diseases are heart disease.
Coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is often referred to simply as “heart disease,” although it’s not the only type of heart disease.
Coronary heart disease occurs when plaque, a combination of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances found in the blood, builds up in your arteries.
The plaque reduces the amount of oxygen-rich blood getting to the heart, which can cause chest pain, also called angina.
Plaque can also lead to blood clots, which block blood flow and are the most common cause of a heart attack.
According to the NHLBI, about 366,000 Americans die from coronary heart disease each year.
“Unfortunately there is no build up of symptoms. The first major symptom is a heart attack,” Dr. Conti said.
“And one in five heart attacks are silent. The damage is done and they don’t even know it. They feel a pain but pass it off. There are a lot of patients in their 50s and 60s with build up and don’t even know it.”
Some lifestyle tips from the NHLBI to improve heart health include:
• Be more physically active.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Eat a nutritious diet.
• Quit smoking.
• Manage stress.
• Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep.
• Track your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar numbers.
“Lifestyle factors are all difficult. If exercising and eating a super healthy diet was easy, we wouldn’t be here. But it’s no longer theoretical, it’s no longer ‘maybe I’ll get lucky and it won’t happen to me,” Conti said.
Lake Champlain Imaging, on Route 3 in Plattsburgh, prides itself on a comprehensive array of radiologic imaging and cutting edge diagnostic testing by doctor recommendation to determine a patient’s risk factors and how to best optimize the heart moving forward.
“The power of these tests is it removes the veil of mystery, the mystery of ‘oh do I, does a loved one have heart disease,” Conti said.
These tests include a Coronary Calcium Score, Coronary Calcium Score, Echocardiography, Vascular Ultrasound, Holter Monitor, Fractional Flow Reserve as well as a tool that utilizes AI to analyze plaque build up.
“I encourage people over 50-years-old to talk to their providers about their individual risks and if these tests may be right for them,” Conti said.