Prevention Before Intervention

Finding out early if you are at risk of getting heart disease can save you from a sudden heart attack or cardiac arrest.

- Darren Atkinson

It can also help you avoid going under the knife, medicines for the rest of your life and save you the high medical expenses. With non-invasive scans and tests, we can now find out if we are at risk of heart disease much earlier in order for interventions.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s statistics on causes of death, Ischaemic heart diseases was the principal cause of death in 2016.

“While smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol are some of the main risk factors, heart disease is also hereditary” says Consultant Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Wong. “Finding out if a person’s family has a history of heart disease is important. Dr. Wong goes on to explain that modifiable factors are lifestyle habits and chronic diseases that can be controlled or changed while non-modifiable factors consists of a person’s age, genetics, sex and race that cannot be reversed. This data is useful in determining if regular checks, frequent monitoring or further tests are required. For example, if a person has a history of family members dying of heart disease at around 40 years of age, he or she should be monitored for heart related issues through more regular screenings and medical check-ups. Dr. Wong also recommends that people should have regular medical check-ups from age 40 onwards.