Montefiore - Einstein Heart Center

Consultive Cardiology

 

Preventing Heart Disease

The Montefiore Einstein Center for Heart and Vascular Care is committed to fully assessing heart health with comprehensive programs of behavior modification. These range from improving quality of life by reducing risk factors in heart disease patients to preventive care for protecting the hearts of healthy patients.

Managing Risk Factors for Heart Disease

Our team of skilled cardiologists tailors a treatment that is best for each patient. While it is true that heart disease is hereditary, a number of preventable risk factors contribute to a patient's likelihood of developing heart disease, including:

• Sedentary lifestyle
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol levels
• Hypertension or high blood pressure
• Low high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol levels

Although patients cannot change their genes, they can focus on other risk factors, such as weight loss and smoking cessation.

For many patients, weight loss through a heart-healthy diet and increased exercise can help reduce blood pressure, stabilize cholesterol levels and improve blood sugar levels. When weight loss is not enough, all of these conditions can be treated with medication.

While kicking the smoking habit is critical to heart health, we understand how difficult quitting can be. A Heart and Vascular Center cardiologist may refer you to our community outreach program, Be Smart-Quit Smoking. This six-week program will give you the tools you need to move beyond cravings and reach your larger, heart-healthy goals.

Primary and Secondary Prevention

The strategy to prevent heart disease is as unique as the individual.

Primary prevention

The patients looking for primary prevention are those who don't already have heart disease and want to take steps to prevent its development. For example, patients who have lost a parent to heart disease may seek a cardiologist's advice about how they can reduce their risk.

Cardiologists take a complete medical history, screen for cholesterol and diabetes, and get a baseline picture of the heart through an echocardiogram, a noninvasive ultrasound. Cardiologists may also do a stress echocardiogram, a test that takes pictures of the heart during exercise.

Secondary prevention

Patients who already have heart disease can reduce their risk factors. For example, a patient with a stent can halt the progression of heart disease by working with his or her cardiologist to quit smoking and lose weight.