Montefiore - Einstein Heart Center

Consultive Cardiology

Preventing heart disease

Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center is committed to fully assessing heart health with comprehensive programs of behavior modification-from improving quality of life by reducing risk factors in patients already suffering from heart disease, to preventive care for healthy patients seeking guidance about the best way to protect their hearts.

Managing risk factors for heart disease

Montefiore-Einstein prides itself on its team of experienced, skilled cardiologists who individualize treatment for patients tailoring a regimen that's best for each individual patient. While it's true that heart disease is hereditary, there are a number of preventable risk factors that contribute to a patient's likelihood of developing heart disease, including:

• Hypertension, or high blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Cigarette smoking
• High LDL cholesterol levels
• Low HDL cholesterol levels
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Sedentary lifestyle

Although patients can't change their genes, they can focus on risk factors they can change. Cardiologists at Montefiore-Einstein make it clear that the biggest tools in the fight against heart disease are weight loss and smoking cessation.

For many patients, weight loss through a heart-healthy diet and increased exercise may naturally lead to reduced blood pressure, leveling off of cholesterol levels, and diabetes control. When weight loss is not enough, all of these conditions can also be treated with medication.

Kicking your smoking habit is critical to your heart health, but Montefiore-Einstein understands how difficult quitting can be. Your cardiologist may refer you to "Be Smart-Quit Smoking," a community outreach program available at Montefiore. This six-week program will give you the tools you need to move beyond cravings and reach your larger, heart-health goals.

Primary and secondary prevention

Focusing on the risk factors are the same for every patient, but the approach varies slightly depending on the patient's overall health:

Primary prevention

Patients looking for primary prevention are patients who don't have heart disease and want to take steps to prevent developing the disease. For example, patients who have lost a parent to heart disease who are worried about their risk may seek a cardiologist's advice about how they can improve their chances of never developing the disease.

In addition to educating the patient about risk factors, cardiologists will take a complete history, run tests to screen for cholesterol and diabetes, and get a baseline picture of the heart through an echocardiogram, a non-invasive ultrasound that images the heart. Cardiologists may also do a stress echocardiogram, a test that takes a picture of the heart during exercise. An inactive patient may not notice early signs of heart disease as quickly as a highly active person who notices that they're winded climbing a flight of stairs that never seemed to bother them before.

Secondary prevention

Patients who already have heart disease can still see enormous benefits from a focus on reducing risk factors. For example, a patient who already has a stent may work with his cardiologist to quit smoking and lose weight to prevent her heart disease from getting worse.