The 10 Biggest Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Dr. Tzvi Doron
January 15, 2018

The 10 Biggest Risk Factors for Heart Disease

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The world can be a scary place. Killer storms, terrorist attacks, and disease are front page news practically every day. It can make you scared to step foot outside. But shocking truth is that despite all the terrible things happening around the world, the biggest risk to your life is right there in the room with you. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States—for men and women—killing about 600,000 people each year. That’s roughly 1 in 4 total deaths (or more than all cancer deaths combined).

Men have a higher risk of heart disease than women until the age of 75

The good news is that many of the factors that lead to heart disease are avoidable, and other factors are treatable with easy to get, inexpensive medications and a few simple lifestyle changes. Heart attacks are a scary thing to think about, but there’s a heck of a lot more you can do for your heart than the next superstorm. Get to know the 10 biggest risk factors that contribute to heart disease and cardiovascular disease so you can prevent falling victim to the real biggest killer in the US.

Table of Contents

Heart Disease: Non-modifiable Risk Factors

Let’s start with the bad news first: There’s nothing you can do about three of the biggest risk factors for heart disease. Your age, family history, and even your gender are all strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. That’s the bad news. The good news is that knowing how these risk factors affect you can help you and your doctor reduce their impact. In fact, it might even be more important to address existing conditions like high cholesterol and blood pressure as you age and if you have a strong family history of heart disease. Good heart health starts with awareness.

Here are the three most important non-modifiable risk factors for heart disease:

  1. Age: The older you get, the more likely you are to suffer from heart disease. Medical professionals always factor age into risk calculators to estimate your risk of heart disease. And while “age is just a number,” it’s still important to take into account when making treatment decisions.
  2. Family history/genetics: Sorry guys, if you have a family member who developed heart disease at a young age (before 55 for men and 65 for women) you’re at greater risk. While you can’t change your genes, you can change your environment, which is partially responsible for how your genes are expressed (aka “epigenetics”).
  3. Gender: Men have a higher risk of heart disease than women until the age of 75. It’s just one of those things. Studies previously thought that women’s lower risk of heart disease was due to the protective effects of estrogen on the cardiovascular system. However, more research has shown that may not be true after all, and even though the reasons for this gender gap aren’t totally clear, the results remain the same.

Heart Disease: Modifiable Risk Factors

Now for the good news (finally). You can modify the rest of the heart disease risk factors on this list with a few simple lifestyle changes.

  1. Smoking: The CDC estimates that smoking can double or even quadruple your risk of heart disease and stroke. Smoking damages blood vessels and increases blood pressure and plaque buildup in the arteries. These factors increase the likelihood of developing arterial blood clots (aka heart attacks and strokes).
  2. Sedentary lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. Increasing your physical activity has been shown to protect against cardiovascular disease in a dose-response relationship—meaning that a larger dose of exercise is more protective than a smaller one. When it comes to being physically active, more is more.
  3. Poor Diet: Nutrition science is confusing. Every day you hear about another superfood or life-changing diet that will revolutionize your health. Most of this advice is hype. However, there are a few dietary patterns that have been shown to be beneficial for health, including cardiovascular health. The Mediterranean Diet is one such diet. It’s relatively high in fat from olive oil and nuts and suggests eating more fruits, vegetables, fish, fermented dairy products, and poultry. It’s also low in sweets, refined carbohydrates, sugar-sweetened beverages, added sugar, and red meat.
  4. Obesity: Obesity is an independent risk factor for heart disease. Basically, that means, all things being equal, obesity alone increases your risk for heart disease. If that’s not bad enough, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, inflammation, blood clots and dysfunctional blood vessel linings (endothelial dysfunction) are all connected to both obesity and heart disease. There’s also some research that shows that weight loss intervention can prolong life in adults with obesity.

According to the CDC,smoking increases the risk of heart disease and stroke by 2-4 times.

Treating Heart Disease: Lifestyle & Medication

The best approach to the prevention and treatment of heart disease is a combination of education, medical intervention, and positive lifestyle changes—especially for these high-risk factors:

  1. Diabetes: Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes makes up about 90-95% of diabetes in the US, and over 86 million people in the US are prediabetic (meaning they’re at risk for developing type 2 diabetes). People with diabetes can lower their risks for heart disease by quitting smoking, staying physically active, eating a healthy diet, and monitoring and controlling their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Basically everything from the list above. Diabetes medication, like metformin, can also help treat type 2 diabetes.
  2. Hypertension: Hypertension is often called “the silent killer” for a reason. High blood pressure is associated with a 20-45% increased risk of various types of heart disease. If you’re diagnosed with hypertension you can lower your blood pressure and risk for cardiovascular disease with weight loss, increased physical activity, the DASH Diet, drinking less alcohol, and drug therapy when necessary.
  3. High Cholesterol: Elevated levels of LDL and non-HDL cholesterol are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Many of the same recommendations for people with hypertension apply to those with high cholesterol levels. However, your doctor might also prescribe different medications like Lipitor (atorvastatin), Crestor (rosuvastatin), Zocor (simvastatin).

Heart Attacks: Understanding Your Unique Risk Factors

Obviously, there are other cardiovascular disease risks besides these 10 factors. However, these existing conditions and lifestyle risks account for the vast majority of all cardiovascular disease.

Heart disease doesn’t have to be inevitable—even if you’re at risk. Most of these factors are modifiable with lifestyle changes and medication. Work with your doctor or healthcare provider to assess your risk factors and create a treatment plan to lower your risk for heart disease.

Geek Out: More Heart Disease Resources

Not enough info for you? Geek out on heart disease with these studies and stats from the most trusted health sources on the interwebs. And if you have any questions or you think we missed something important, leave a comment or book a consultation with me or one of these trained medical professionals and we’ll answer your questions and concerns in no time.

Dr. Tzvi Doron

Dr. Tzvi Doron is board certified family doctor and the Clinical Director of Roman. He’s a member of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Dr. Tzvi Doron

Dr. Tzvi Doron is board certified family doctor and the Clinical Director of Roman. He’s a member of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

All stories by:Dr. Tzvi Doron
11 comments
  • Greg March 15, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    I just quit smoking and I hope I will improve more aspects of my life. Eat smart, move more and be well 🙂

  • Dr. Tzvi Doron March 16, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    Greg, thanks so much for reading. You should give yourself a pat on the back. Quitting smoking is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health.

  • Bethany Birchridge March 30, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    I thought it was interesting that men were more at risk for heart disease than women. My father has been taking medicine for hypertension, though it causes him to cough frequently. I think I’ll share this article with him so he can understand the dangers of heart disease and hopefully get working out with me.

  • Dr. Tzvi Doron May 22, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    Hi Bethany,

    Exercise is great for people with high blood pressure. If your dad is coughing because of his blood pressure medicine, he should talk to his doctor as there may be other alternatives to treat his blood pressure without the unwanted side effect of a cough. One of the major classes of blood pressure medications is called ACE inhibitors and includes medicines ending in “-pril” like lisinopril, captopril, enalapril, etc. There are other medications that are just as effective that don’t cause a cough.

  • Robert Reny December 18, 2019 at 9:20 am

    FDA has approved a new drug called Vascepa, which is derived from fish oil, as adjuvant therapy for those who are at risk of having cardiovascular disease. It is effective in lowering high triglyceride levels, reducing cardiovascular risk.

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Dr. Tzvi Doron

Dr. Tzvi Doron is board certified family doctor and the Clinical Director of Roman. He’s a member of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

All stories by:Dr. Tzvi Doron