Most Heart Attacks are Easily Predictable, Reuters Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: Virtually the entire risk of heart attack can be predicted and the impact of factors causing attacks is the same whether you live in a rich country or a poor one... Results of the study of more than 29 000 people in 52 countries, released at a meeting of the European Cardiology Society, showed that two factors alone - an abnormal ratio of bad to good cholesterol and smoking - were responsible for two-thirds of the global risk of heart attack.(...) The findings contradict current thinking which suggests that only around half of the risk of heart disease is accounted for by known factors. (...) "The impact of risk factors is the same in every ethnic group and every region of the world," Yusuf said, adding that this meant the message of preventing heart disease could be quite simple and fairly uniform across the world.