Say ALOHA to Heart Disease

ALOHA was developed by the American Heart Association and other healthcare organizations to help women keep heart disease at bay. ALOHA’s guidelines promote awareness, knowledge, and action.

How ALOHA Works

• Assess your risk with your doctor. She’ll rank it “high,” “intermediate,” or “low.”
• Lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle is the most important weapon against heart disease.
• Other interventions. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as diabetes screenings, help determine treatment.
• Highest priority for preventive therapy is for women at highest risk. These women are likely to benefit the most.
• Avoid “Class III” medical therapies. Postmenopausal hormone therapies, antioxidants, and aspirin are not recommended for women at low risk.

Assess Your Risk

The Framingham Risk Assessment Calculator can help your doctor predict your chances of a heart attack within a 10-year period. You accrue points based on factors such as age, total cholesterol level, blood pressure, and whether you smoke. The good news is that you can change your risk profile with smart strategies.

Lifestyle: Your First Line of Defense

Here are some of the most important things you can do to battle heart disease, no matter what your risk:

• Stop smoking and avoid secondhand tobacco smoke.
• Get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day.
• Start a cardiac rehabilitation program if you’ve been hospitalized or had a procedure for heart disease.
• Eat a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, fish, and beans.
• If you need to, enroll in a formal weight-loss program.

Other Interventions

Working with your doctor, you can manage other risk factors, such as:

• lowering high blood pressure
• ensuring healthy cholesterol levels in those at high- and intermediate-risk
• keeping diabetes under control.

Highest Priority = Highest-Risk Patients

Women who have had heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, diabetes mellitus, or chronic kidney disease are most likely to benefit from preventive therapy. Several drugs have been shown to prevent heart attacks, including:

• aspirin
• beta-blockers
• statins
• niacin or fibrate
• warfarin.

Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits associated with these treatments.

Avoid “Class III” Medical Therapies

These treatments should not be used to prevent heart disease:

• Combined postmenopausal hormone therapy recently has been shown to have no benefit in preventing heart disease. In some women, it may cause heart attacks, stroke, or blood clots.
• Antioxidant supplements, such as vitamin E and beta carotene.
• Aspirin for low-risk patients hasn’t yet been proven to prevent heart disease. Also, risks such as stomach bleeding or ulcers may outweigh any potential benefits.

Heart disease can be prevented in both women and men. These new guidelines can help you lower your risk. Know your risk level and talk to your doctor about setting prevention goals and how to reach them.

For more information about ALOHA, check out www.americanheart.org.