This week, May 2nd-8th 2022, is Heart Week!
Did you know that one Australian has a heart attack or stroke every four minutes?
Heart Week aims to raise awareness about heart health, and encourage Australians to chat to their GP about a simple Heart Health Check.
During the Heart Health Check, your GP will check your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. They will then chat about the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and what you can do to lower your risk of a heart event, such as a heart attack or stroke.
They might also recommend you visit your cardiologist for a simple, painless test that is a great predictor of your risk of heart attack within the next 10 years – the Coronary Artery Calcium Score test. You can read more about this test here.
It is recommended that anyone over the age of 45, or over the age of 30 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, should book an appointment with their GP for a Heart Health Check.
In the latest episode of their podcast, which celebrates Heart Week, Peter and Stuart discuss the common risk factors for heart disease and how patients can make simple lifestyle changes to help mitigate these factors.
They discuss:
– A healthy diet
– Exercise
– Blood pressure
– Cholesterol.
You can listen to the podcast here.
GPs can find a useful Heart Health Check Toolkit on the Heart Foundation website, which contains resources to help prioritise the heart health of your patients. You can find the toolkit here.
Happy Heart Week!