Cardiovascular Risks

There are frightening new statistics that should be a wake-up call to everyone. Take Rodney Abernethy, who was found to have multiple heart artery blockages due to atherosclerosis. “I had stents put in to open up the blockages that I had. Ever since then I feel great.” But is he?

According to the latest research, patients with atherosclerotic arterial disease—hardening of the arteries--have relatively high rates of experiencing a cardiovascular event like a heart attack, stroke or death within one year. Overall, around 1 in 7 patients with established arterial disease—whether it was in the heart, neck, or leg arteries… had at least one of these-- or was hospitalized, perhaps to open up a blocked vessel.

Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, Director of the Heart Failure Program at LIJ Medical Center, says, “The study is very humbling because despite the tremendous advances in treating atherosclerosis, patients still have events like heart attacks and strokes, and still die.”

And if you’re hospitalized for any of these .the risk goes up to between 15 and 21 percent for another major event. And don’t downplay the significance of peripheral vascular disease--blockages in the legs. These patients had a more than five percent risk of heart attack, stroke or death in the next year.

 “The fact remains atherosclerosis is a generalized condition. Rarely attacks only one arterial bed. So if you have peripheral vascular disease chances are you have plaque in the coronary arteries too and plaque in the carotid arteries and you’re at risk for heart attacks and strokes,” states Dr. Jauhar.

And most of the patients were getting appropriate medicines to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and they also got blood thinning drugs--but not at doses large enough to get them to their target levels. “It’s very important to be very aggressive with these patients. We need to more importantly reiterate to our patients they need to have a healthier lifestyle. They need to stop smoking if they’ve had a heart attack, they need to lose weight,” advises Dr. Jauhar.

 Hopefully, Rodney won’t become one of the repeat customers this next year, like in the study. “I actually had to change my eating habits go on a more healthy diet and get rid of the greasy cholesterol fatty foods. Still have heart disease, but with the medicine I’m taking and everything, everything is absolutely great,” says Rodney.

So again, if you have any artery blockages, assume they’re all over your body, take it very seriously, and aggressively change your lifestyle so that you do not become one of these apparently very common statistics of heart attack, stroke, or death in the next year.