February 13, 2019 – Family and Heart Disease

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Anchor lead: Can you avoid developing heart disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

One in two adults in the US have some form of heart disease, federal statistics reveal. Coupled with the fact that heart disease remains the number one cause of death, adopting behaviors to reduce your risk is likely a good idea. Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, says such a strategy should start in childhood.

Martin: Especially if there’s a family history of heart disease then that would be a particular reason to do a cholesterol in the children to see where you’re at. I think that its also a time just to check basic things like where a child’s weight is and is it a healthy weight? And is it something that’s above average or even placing them in an obese category where that should be a focus of attention because the earlier you get on the right trajectory the better.  :30

Martin encourages people to make heart disease prevention a family affair, implementing healthy diets and exercise for all. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.