Understand heart disease – for medical professionals and families seeking income protection.

It’s our biggest killer, but many of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are preventable. These numbers will not come as a surprise for medical professionals looking for income protection but for families seeking life insurance some of these numbers will be worrying.

A healthy heart is vital for a healthy life. Unfortunately, it’s also something many Australians can’t claim to have. According the National Heart Foundation1 cardiovascular disease:

1. affects 3.4 million Australians

2. prevents 1.4 million of these people from living a full life

3. claimed the life of almost 46,000 Australians in 2008.

While these statistics are worrying, it’s even more disturbing to think that many cases of cardiovascular disease are preventable.

So what are the major risk factors? And which ones can you do something about?

Non-modifiable risk factors

• increasing age

• having a family history of heart disease.

Modifiable risk factors

• smoking (both active and passive)

• high cholesterol

• high blood pressure

• diabetes

• being physically inactive

• being overweight

• depression, social isolation and lack of quality support.

Looking through the modifiable risk factors, there are obviously some things you can do to keep yourself out of harm’s way – like losing weight and exercising more.

One of the most dangerous things about cardiovascular disease is that it doesn’t always show obvious symptoms.

1. http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/information-for-professionals/data-and-statistics/Pages/default.aspx

2. Article Sourced from OnePath 16th August 2012