HHS HealthBeat (April 12, 2007)

What to watch for in a woman's heart

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Heart attack is the leading cause of death for women. But doctors know a lot about the risk factors that can make a woman's heart go bad. To help women and their doctors get a better handle on the risk, researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital developed a simple updated questionnaire.

The data in the Journal of the American Medical Association were supported by the National Institutes of Health.

The Reynolds Risk Score checks out smoking, cholesterol, age, family history, blood pressure – and levels of C-reactive protein, or CRP, which is a sign of inflammation. Inflammation is relatively new as a known risk factor.

Researcher Paul Ridker:

"What's very important to understand is that you can be a high-risk patient if your CRP is elevated, even if your cholesterol levels are low." (9 seconds)

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011