Want to Know Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease? There's an Online Tool For It

Responsive for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. deaths, cardiovascular disease is the country's leading cause of death in both men and women. Each year, more than 610,000 Americans die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And while there's no cure for cardiovascular disease, there are ways to lower a person's risk of the disease. The first step, however, is to determine a person's current risk, after which the appropriate steps can be taken to promote a healthy heart.

There's now a tool available that can assess a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Available at ProjectBigLife.ca, the free-to-use tool is designed to predict your risk of cardiovascular disease over the next five years. It takes about three to five minutes to complete, after which it will provide you with a rough estimate your overall risk, expressed as a percentage, of developing cardiovascular disease in the next half-decade. It's important to note that neither it nor any other risk prediction tool is completely accurate, nor should it be used as a substitution for a professional medical evaluation. But if you want to get a general idea of your overall heart health and whether you are at risk for cardiovascular disease, it's certainly worth using.

The tool was developed by medical experts in conjunction with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It works by analyzing a cardiovascular risk factors -- stress, exposure to pollution, smoking, drinking alcohol, happiness, etc. -- and using these factors, it tells the person his or her risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease is often referred to as the "silent killer" because its symptoms remained unnoticed. According to the CIHR, most people don't even know they have the disease until they suffer a heart attack or stroke. Therefore, using this tool could save lives, as it allows people to determine their risk of cardiovascular disease before a serious and potentially fatal event occurs.

When creating the online tool, the CIHR analyzed data from more than 104,000 Canadians, all of whom participated in the country's Community Health Survey. Researchers calculated participants' heart disease rates while comparing them to risk factors And using this data, they created a tool that provides users with an assessment of their cardiovascular disease risk.

Whether you have a low, medium or high risk of developing cardiovascular disease, there are steps you can take to promote a healthy heart. First, make sure you exercise for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobics each week. The American Heart Association (AHA) says this is one of the important things you can do for your health. Second, eat a low-fat diet consisting of lean meats and fresh vegetables. Fish is particularly beneficial because it contains omega-3 fatty acids that lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Third, keep your stress levels in check, as chronic stress contributes to high blood pressure and, subsequently, cardiovascular disease.