What Exactly Are Risk Factors Concerning Heart Disease?

QUESTION: Almost every article, including some of yours, mentions the effect
of "risk factors" in relation to heart disease. Just what is a risk factor,
and how did doctors discover them? A word or two of explanation would be very
much appreciated.
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ANSWER: A risk factor is simply any circumstance or condition (factor) that
causes the possibility (risk) of an injury. When we use the term to discuss
heart disease, we're stating certain facts in a person's history that seem to
be present when heart trouble is diagnosed. A person may have many points
against him or maybe just a few. They may be controllable or not.
For instance, if you are a male under the age of 45 and your father died
in his youth from a heart attack, the chances are you too could develop heart
disease at a very early age. Age, sex, and family history are uncontrollable.
On the other hand, if you're a "workaholic," sedentary, overweight, a
chain-smoker, or subject to high blood pressure or high cholesterol, these are
risk factors that can be controlled.
Risk factors are determined by analyzing various factors associated with
a disease. It is a statistical method of linking associated circumstances,
which then may be further studied to see if there is a "cause and effect"
relationship.
Changes in lifestyle and diet, coupled with sound medical care, can
change predicted outcomes, prevent the development of heart disease, and
overcome the dangers in of risk factors we cannot change.