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Early
heart screening advised
Aug. 26, 2002
By
ANITA MANNING
Gannett News Service
Doctors should start screening patients for their risk
of developing heart disease or strokes as early as age
20, says the American Heart Association.
In updated guidelines published recently in the journal
Circulation, an expert panel says that people 40 and
older, or anyone who has two or more risk factors, should
know their chances of developing heart disease over
the next decade.
That calculation is based on factors such as age, smoking
status, gender, blood pressure and cholesterol.
The guidelines were last updated in 1997. The 1997 guidelines
did not spell out a starting age to begin screening
for cardiovascular disease.
“Heart
disease can be prevented, and we have to start at a
young age to do it,” says panel member Sidney Smith,
professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill.
The guidelines recommend:
Weight loss for those with a body mass index more than
25 or waist measurement more than 40 inches for men
and 35 inches for women.
Moderate physical exercise 30 minutes per day, preferably
every day.
Low-dose aspirin for patients with a 10 percent risk
of developing heart disease within 10 years.
No exposure to tobacco smoke, including secondhand smoke.
Control of blood pressure and blood fats.
Regular pulse checks and treatment for atrial fibrillation,
an irregular heartbeat associated with blood clot formation,
which could lead to stroke.
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