Improving the odds

How do you predict a heart attack?

Doctors have looked at such measures as stress tests, cholesterol rate and inflammation (as measured by a C-reactive protein test).

As it turns out, doctors can’t say for sure whether a particular person’s heart will malfunction. But they do know there are many things people can do to raise the odds their most faithful muscle will keep beating strong.

Heart-healthy strategies include keeping blood pressure in a healthy range, controlling blood sugar and cholesterol levels, maintaining proper weight, reducing stress, exercising regularly, eating lots of fruits and vegetables and consuming a healthy balance of Omega 3 fats (found in such foods as fish, greens, flaxseed and walnut oil).

A study released earlier this month suggests we also might successfully measure our heart attack risk simply by checking on our resting heart rate. Well known to runners and athletes, the resting heart rate is simply a count of how many times your heart beats after you’ve been resting or sleeping for several hours.

In a study published this month in the Journal of the British Medical Association, a research team led by Judith Hsia of George Washington University found that those in better physical condition had a lower risk of heart attack.

Measuring resting heart rate is an easy, inexpensive way to gauge a person’s overall physical condition, the researchers concluded.

Records of 129,000 women were analyzed. Over nearly eight years, 2,281 of the women had heart attacks. Women with the highest resting heart rates — greater than 76 beats per minute — had a higher chance of having a heart attack than women with the lowest resting heart rates — 62 beats per minute or less.

Yet at least one local doctor worried that people with high resting heart rates might panic.

“It’s not as if everybody with a high resting heart rate is at risk for a heart attack,” said Dr. David Salerno, a cardiologist at the Chattanooga Heart Institute. “We have to be very careful we don’t worry people about something that may be unalterable.”

The study, Dr. Salerno said, gives doctors no information about how to lower resting heart rate or whether a particular person could escape a heart attack by focusing on lowering his or her heart rate.

“Common sense says lowering it would be good,” Dr. Salerno said. “But do we know that? No.”

David Thaler, a 62-year-old retired Walker County middle-school teacher, said that with or without knowing his resting heart rate, he has improved his heart health with diet, exercise and weight loss.

Mr. Thaler had a heart attack followed by a life-saving quintuple bypass four years ago. He was enrolled in Memorial Hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program, where he learned new routines.

“The key point is it’s a complete lifestyle change,” Mr. Thaler said.

Now he walks at least 10,000 steps every day. He also cut sodas, whole milk, trans fats and most saturated fats from his plate. He eats light meals in the evenings, heavier ones earlier in the day. After losing 103 pounds, he said the program worked.

“I feel very good. I feel like my old self again,” Mr. Thaler said.