Posted on 23 December 2011 Posted in Individuals & Families

Scores, Scores, Scores

These days it seems that scores are everywhere. For example, much ado is made about knowing your credit score and how a low score is dangerous to your financial health. Also much is written on how you can improve your credit score. But did you know that knowing the score is important to your health as well?

In this series, “What’s My Score,” I will present and discuss how various “Health Scores” can be used to determine your state of health and more importantly, how you can improve your score and doing so improve your health.

The Framingham Heart Study

This month we will look at how data from the famous “Framingham Heart Study” can predict your risk of heart disease. A brief explanation is in order. For over 40 years, medical researchers have been tracking and monitoring the population of Framingham, Massachusetts. In conjunction with The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI), these scientists have developed an interactive calculator that can predict your risk of having a Myocardial Infarction (MI) commonly known as a heart attack.

Risky Business

To use this calculator, you will need to know several pieces of information that can easily be obtained from your files in your Activ Doctors Online Personal Health Record (PHR).

1) Your Age

2) Your Gender

3) Your Total Cholesterol Value

4) Your HDL Cholesterol Value

5) Smoking Status

6) Systolic Blood Pressure

Once you enter your values, the calculator will determine your risk of having an MI over the next 10 years. This risk is categorized as follows:

Low Risk: 10% or less chance of MI

Moderate Risk: 11% to 19% chance of MI

High Risk: 20% or higher chance of MI

How Low Can You Go?

Now when you take a look at the “Risk Factors” that are used in this calculator, you can see that some are impossible to change (age and gender) but the majority of them are amenable to either drug therapy (cholesterol and blood pressure) or modification of life style (smoking status and weight).

In my practice, I often calculate a patient’s score and then show them exactly what their risk of heart disease is. Next, I will demonstrate how steps like lowering cholesterol or blood pressure will lower their score and doing so their risk of MI.

See For Yourself

The NHLBI has kindly made this calculator widely available to the general public. You can access the calculator by following the link below.

http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/atpiii/calculator.asp

In months to come, I will present similar calculators and other health tools that will help you “Know the Score” and improve your health.

Author: Borys Loza, M.D.