Cardiovascular screening or heart screening means medical examination and tests done to see the wellbeing of the heart and blood vessels in individuals that are symptoms free. Screening is done as a preventive measure to detect any risk factors or pick up any disease at an early stage. Cardiovascular screening includes a physical examination by a doctor, blood pressure measurement, blood cholesterol level, blood sugar level, electrocardiography (ECG), ECG stress test, and other advanced tests for those with risk factors of developing heart disease. Once a person is having symptoms of heart disease, diagnosing the cause is required. The things that will be done are almost the same.
Diagnosing heart disease or any other diseases depends on the findings from history taking, physical examination, and investigations. Analysis of signs and symptoms from history taking and physical examination is very important before a list of specific investigations can be ordered.
The signs and symptoms of heart disease are:
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Increased jugular venous pressure
- Swollen limbs or peripheries
- Abnormal heart sound
The investigations to confirm the diagnosis of heart disease is:
- ECG and ECG stress test
- Blood studies like cholesterol level and cardiac biomarkers test
- Chest x-ray
- Cardiac angiography
- Echocardiography
The more risk factors, the higher the percentage of a person to suffer from certain illnesses. There are two types of risk factors which are modifiable risk factors and non-modifiable risk factors. Modifiable risk factors are something you can intervene and alter for betterment, while non-modifiable risk factors are factors you can’t do anything to change.
The threat factors for heart disease are:
- Obesity or overweight
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Male
- Family history
- High-fat diet
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Stressful life
- Unbalanced diet
- Smoking
If you manage to modify the threat factors, the probability of you to suffer from heart disease will be lesser. The followings are the ways to reduce the risk of heart disease:
- Regular exercise
- Low salt and sugar diet
- Healthy and balanced diet
- Stop smoking
A high level of cholesterol in your blood will result in fat plaque formation within the blood vessels of the heart. This plaque will cause a partial blockage. Later, the plaque will burst and the body will wrongly interpret that as internal bleeding and will start forming large plaque. A bigger plaque will cause complete blockage and the heart will slowly die and fail.
Males are at higher risk to suffer coronary heart sickness compared to females because of hormonal factors. Higher estrogen in women has a protective effect. However, after menopause, the risk to develop coronary heart disease is equal in both genders.
Smoking is one of the threat factors because this bad habit will cause the blood of a smoker to become thicker. The blood becomes thicker as the red blood cells of a smoker are beyond the normal range to help to supply body cells with adequate oxygen. Oxygen intake is lower during smoking while carbon monoxide production within the smoker’s body is super high. This triggers more production of red blood cells to wash out the carbon monoxide and to bring in more oxygen. Thick blood will cause blockage and heart attack is one of the complications.
Coronary heart disease is also a long term complication of diabetes. Poor blood sugar control among diabetic patients will induce fat deposition within arteries. This includes the coronary arteries that supply the heart.
Always remember that prevention is better than cure. You must take proactive measures in maintaining your health. You are advised to go for regular health screening as a part of proactive measures. Annual health screening is encouraged.