TAMPA, Fla. — “Heart disease is the most killer disease,” said Dr. Fariba Gharai, cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon.
According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease-related deaths have increased recently.
“If you put all the cancer deaths together from breast cancer, all the way to prostate, lung, colon cancer, all together, heart disease by itself kills more people than all the cancer disease together,” said Gharai.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show one person dies every 34 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Gharai said she sees patients all the time who haven’t paid attention to their heart health.
“The most striking point about heart disease that I’ve dealt in my years of practice, is that how people are unaware of the things that they can do to prevent this,” said Gharai.
She said most of the risk factors are preventable.
Those include:
- high blood pressure
- high cholesterol
- diabetes
- smoking
- inactivity
To prevent disease, experts suggest people get bloodwork done, know their family history, quit smoking, exercise regularly, and eat a well-balanced diet.
“The best thing to eat are diets that are rich in vegetables, rich in whole grains, and things that are low processed,” said Dr. Daniela Crousillat, assistant professor of medicine for cardiovascular sciences at USF.
People should seek medical attention immediately if they experience any of these symptoms:
- shortness of breath
- new shoulder, arm, or back pain
- sudden cold sweat
- chest pain
“Chest pain can feel very different to anyone but that can be like a burning, it can feel more like a pressure. Sometimes the pain can feel like it’s going in different directions like to your shoulder, your armpits, or even up to the neck,” said Crousillat.
Doctors are also keeping a close eye on new research that suggests there are new risk factors for heart disease as it relates to pregnancy. Especially if someone experienced any complications during pregnancy, it could mean heart problems down the line.
“So we now know in the literature is really mounting that sort of demonstrating that pregnancy is sort of a window into your future cardiovascular health. And I think that should be really empowering for a lot of women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, who are giving birth and potentially have these birth complications,” said Crousillat.
Doctors stress heart disease can affect anyone, though, at any age.
That’s why they said people should start paying attention to their heart health now and talking to their primary care doctor about their risks.
“That prevents them from coming to me, which is absolutely the end stage of their disease, so there is no modality to fix it. There is no medication, there is no more stint or noninvasive to help them but to come under the knife and have open heart surgery,” said Gharai.
