Worried About Heart Disease?
Written by: Dr. Jeffrey Barke
As part of the yearly, comprehensive physical that we deliver for each of our clients, we always run an extensive blood panel review. But, for clients that have an increased risk for heart disease we also have the ability to conduct an advanced lipid profile test from either Berkeley Heartlab or the VAP (vertical auto profile, offered by several labs). These types of tests provide an in-depth analysis of your cardiovascular risk and it gives us far more information than is available from a traditional cholesterol test. Think of it as a high definition view of your cardiovascular risk. We use this information to help direct risk reduction in order to prevent cardiovascular disease. As heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common form of heart disease, we believe it is critical that you are educated and able to ensure your physician is giving you the best available care options.
Traditionally, risk of developing CAD has been assessed with a standard calculation of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and measurement of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) quantity. However, only 50% of coronary artery disease is associated with high cholesterol or any of six additional classic risk factors: advanced age, male gender, and positive family history of premature heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking. Obviously, today’s routine cholesterol tests are failing to identify the vast majority of people at risk for heart attacks. In fact, a recently published study showed a surprising number of people with low LDL cholesterol levels still developed heart disease. Looking at good and bad cholesterol calculations simply is not enough.
Wondering why this is important? Your coronary arteries carry life-sustaining oxygen to your heart muscle. If you have plaque build-up, you are at risk for a rupture, or a clot that could block the coronary arteries. From this your heart muscle does not get enough oxygen and is unable to function correctly. Robbing the heart muscle of oxygen for even a brief period of time will result in the death of some of the heart muscle tissue (otherwise known as a heart attack) or potentially cause an arrhythmia which can lead to sudden death.
Utilizing an advanced lipid profile test, we can create a comprehensive and personalized plan for each individual, assessing a variety of risk markers as well as environmental, genetic, and lifestyle factors that may contribute to heart disease progression.
If think you are at risk for heart disease please talk to your primary care physician about these types of tests to determine if it might be beneficial to your long term health strategy.
