What is a heart health screening?

A heart health screening can help give you a holistic view of your cardiovascular health and zero in on any risk factors for heart disease that might need more attention.

For women over the age of 40, it’s a wonderfully proactive way to start a conversation about your long-term heart health. You might not realize, for example, that heart health is the leading cause of death for this demographic — more than all forms of cancer combined.

The bottom line is that you have nothing to lose by having the conversation. Really, you might have more to lose by staying quiet about your health.

So, if you remember the days when “screen time” involved a monitor the size of your oven, it’s probably screening time for you. Here’s what to know.

What happens in a heart health screening?

After you make an appointment, your health care team will perform tests and you’ll answer a questionaire to measure:

• Blood pressure
• Cholesterol: total, HDL and LDL
• Triglycerides
• Glucose (you might hear it referred to as “blood sugar” or “A1C”)
• Lifestyle factors (e.g., diet, exercise and any drinking or smoking)

Depending on your age and symptoms, you might also undergo one or more of these additional tests:

• Electrocardiogram (EKG)
• Calcium score test
• Exercise stress test

“It’s really important to establish a baseline as you’re in your mid-40s to get healthy habits fixed into place,” says Dr. Ethan Korngold, a cardiologist and medical director in Abbott’s Cardiovascular business.

“For example, high blood pressure that’s not detected for years can cause lasting damage. So that should be tracked at least yearly.”

What can you discuss with your doctor?

While test results and numbers help bring you and your heart into focus, they don’t tell the entire story. Use your heart health screening to be that storyteller and advocate for yourself.

Women over the age of 40 should especially consider opening this dialogue. Your cardiovascular risk profile might be changing as you enter menopause and the amount of estrogen you produce decreases. If you are wondering about changes with your heart or your body, it’s important to talk it over with your doctor.

Some potential conversation-starters:

• How does my family history play into my heart health?
• Can some of the symptoms that are usually linked with menopause — such as a racing heart or hot flashes or sleep disturbances — also be linked to cardiovascular stress?¹
• Could any reduction in my energy level be because of heart function rather than aging?¹

“A lot of folks are fearful of going to the doctor because they don’t want to get any bad news,” says Dr. Nadim Geloo, also a cardiologist and medical director in Abbott’s Cardiovascular business. “But once you know where you stand, there are a lot of preventative measures that you can take so you never go down the path of heart disease in the first place — or know what to do about it, if you do.”

For most women and most people today, “there’s a good treatment available to you if you need it,” Geloo says.

Why are heart health screenings important?

Catching a high blood pressure or cholesterol reading early means you can make adjustments proactively and stay on track to live your fullest life. The same goes for exploring or ruling out any potential risks to your heart.

And for your state of mind, a heart health screening is a chance to make your voice heard about your health. As we’ve said, it’s really the kickoff of a conversation where you and your doctor can establish a health routine that makes sense for you.

Considering that heart disease claims the lives of one out of every five women,² it’s a talk well worth having.

“A lot of the awareness for heart disease, historically, was more tied to men," Geloo says, “even including the descriptions of symptoms that people should be aware of. So, our message is that it’s important for women to ask what their risk factors are and make those early lifestyle modifications that are worth their weight in gold.”

References

¹ Menopause Transition and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Implications for Timing of Early Prevention: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000912

² https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd.html