The Heart & Vascular Institute of FL

Why is Cholesterol Important?

The Heart and Vascular Institute of Florida offers comprehensive cardiac risk factor education, including:

• cholesterol medication management
• nutrition and exercise information
• smoking cessation assistance

We also offer advanced lipid (blood fat) testing to evaluate for genetic cardiac risk factors beyond basic cholesterol tests. www.4myheart.com

“Your blood cholesterol level has a lot to do with your chances of getting heart disease. High blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease. A risk factor is a condition that increases your chance of getting a disease. The higher your cholesterol level, the greater your risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. Heart disease is the number one killer of women and men in the United States. Each year, more than a million Americans have heart attacks and about a half million people die from heart disease.”

Your chance of developing heart and artery disease depends to some degree on your cardiac risk factors. These include:

• High LDL (lousy) cholesterol
• Low HDL (happy) cholesterol
• Cigarette smoking
• High blood pressure
• Family history of early heart disease
• Age (men 45 years or older; women 55 years or older)
• Diabetes