Cardiovascular disease quiz: Risk and prevention

Cardiovascular disease doesn't refer to one particular condition. It's actually any condition that affects the heart (cardio) or the blood vessels (vascular). The cardiovascular diseases you may be most familiar with are heart attack and stroke. But varicose veins is indeed a type of cardiovascular disease, as are high blood pressure (hypertension) and stroke. Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin and isn't related to the cardiovascular system.

Don't give up your efforts to quit smoking. Take heart — smoking is on the decline in many parts of the world, and you, too, can find a way to quit. In the United States, about 23 percent of adults now smoke, compared with 42 percent in the mid-1960s. Counseling, medications and even alternative medicine may help you quit.

And it's important that you quit. Smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It increases your risk of heart attack and nearly doubles your risk of stroke, for instance. The good news is that your risk of cardiovascular disease starts decreasing as soon as you stop smoking. And within several years of stopping, your risk is about the same as that of someone who has never smoked. So quitting does pay off.

The average life expectancy of people born in the United States is now 77.3 years. But if all major forms of cardiovascular disease — such as stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure — were done away with, the average person would gain about seven additional years of life. A heart attack can shorten your life by nearly 12 years.

The number of adults who have at least two risk factors for cardiovascular disease is on the rise. It's now about 28 percent, compared with 23 percent in 1991. Rates went up for both men and women in all racial, ethnic, age and educational groups. The most common pairing of risk factors is high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Olive oil is monounsaturated fat, flax oil is a polyunsaturated fat with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and safflower oil is a polyunsaturated fat.

Your body needs some fat to function properly. But too much, especially of unhealthy saturated fats, can hurt your health. And most Americans consume far more saturated fat than necessary. Saturated fat is most commonly found in animal products, such as red meat and butter. Men typically consume more saturated fat than women, about 33 grams vs. 23 grams. Men should be consuming about 24 grams a day and women about 20. Reading food labels can help you track your fat consumption.

American Heart Association guidelines recommend that your doctor begin assessing your risk of cardiovascular disease at age 20.

An assessment of your cardiovascular risk includes a review of your lifestyle habits and your family history of heart disease. As part of your risk assessment, get checks of your blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference and pulse at your initial medical visit and during routine follow-up exams — or at least every two years. Get your cholesterol and blood glucose levels checked at least every five years.

No other disease, including cancer, claims as many U.S. women's lives as cardiovascular disease.

Despite that sobering statistic, most women still believe their No. 1 health threat is cancer. Many believe that cardiovascular disease is a "man's disease." Yet more women than men die of cardiovascular disease every year, including stroke. In addition, women often don't recognize when they're having a heart attack because they aren't familiar with the symptoms of a heart attack in women.

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease are rising among adolescents and even younger children. As with adults, these risk factors are often related to unhealthy lifestyles. They include:

• Inactivity
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke

Children who have these risk factors may be laying down the roots of cardiovascular disease that appears later in life — but not much later. Even young adults in their 20s and 30s can develop cardiovascular disease as a result of their lifestyle. That's why the American Heart Association recommends screening starting at age 20. You'll do your kids a favor if you encourage them to get active, avoid smoking and eat a healthy diet.