Why heart screening is for everyone

Just because you’ve never had issues with your heart, it doesn’t always mean you’re not at risk. A Mediclinic heart specialist explains what heart screening involves.

Few people think about the health of their heart until they develop problems. But even if you haven’t had any issues with your heart before, Dr Andile Xana, a cardiologist at Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, warns that it’s important to go for regular heart screenings because you could still be at risk.

Risk categories

“From a cardiac viewpoint, we have to look at the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD),” explains Dr Xana. “People are categorised into low, intermediate, or high risk, which dictates what type of screening they should go for.” Factors that influence what level of heart disease risk a person might have include:

• Age – older people are more at risk
• Sex and ethnicity – some conditions linked to a higher risk for heart disease occur more often in certain groups of people
• Smoking status – smokers have a higher risk of heart disease than non-smokers
• Comorbidities – such as hypertension and diabetes.
• Family history of premature coronary artery disease.

Dr Xana advises everyone over age 18 to go for regular heart assessments to check their risk for “cardiac events”, i.e., heart attacks and strokes. People who are at low risk should visit their GP for a heart assessment at least every five years. Those at intermediate or high risk need a heart screening at least every two years. An annual screening may be recommended for some high-risk people.

What kind of screening do I need?

Depending on your risk level, the screening you require could be fairly straightforward or more specialised. “For low-risk individuals, it will just be lifestyle assessment and a cholesterol test,” says Dr Xana. Your GP can do these as part of a routine check-up.

However, people with intermediate or high risk for heart disease will need special tests to check the condition of the heart. Tests could include:

• Resting or stress electrocardiograms (ECGs)
• CT scan to look for calcium scores – this measures calcium deposits (the higher the score, the higher your risk), or any narrowing of blood vessels
• Sonar to measure heart contractility – the force of the heart’s contraction.

If any of these tests pick up abnormalities, you may then need an invasive angiogram to identify, assess and treat them.

The sooner a heart condition is picked up, the lower your risk for heart attack or stroke. If you haven’t had a heart screening in a while, contact your healthcare professional as soon as possible to arrange one.