(Dr. Brian Goldman/ CBC Radio) — Heart disease is Canada’s leading cause of death, but you can reduce your risk by living a wholesome lifestyle — that is, if you know what things you need to fix.
A new online calculator at Project Big Life helps Canadians measure the health of the old ticker by plugging in information about their risk factors for a heart attack or stroke. The mission of the website is to engage people and organizations by providing meaningful health risk information.
You input your age, smoking history, alcohol use, diet, level of physical activity and whether or not you have diabetes and high blood pressure, among other things.
The calculator gives you your percentage risk of having a heart attack or stroke within the next five years.
If your risk is five per cent, for instance, it means that five out of every 100 people with the same score (and therefore the same risk profile for heart disease) will have a heart attack or stroke over the next five years. (…)