HOW TO DETERMINE VASCULAR DISEASE RISK
Heart disease is still the #1cause of death in adult men and women. For the majority of these people it is the circulation to their heart that led to their demise. For this reason, the problem is more a disease of the blood vessels or vascular disease.
If you had a recent blood lipid panel, don’t be content thinking that is all the information you need to determine your vascular disease risk. Vascular diseases are caused by atherosclerosis or plaquing of the arteries. This can lead to heart attack, stroke, arterial stenosis, erectile dysfunction, and so much more. In order to maintain health and vitality, it is crucial to know if you are at risk.
Typically when one has blood work and a lipid panel is done, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), non-HDL, and triglycerides are routinely tested. If your total cholesterol and LDL are elevated, drugs in the statin family are prescribed to lower those levels to decrease your risk for vascular disease.
Although knowing your lipid panel results is important it is the height of complacency to think that is enough, to just treat the high cholesterol. Or even worse than that, if one’s cholesterol is normal and assume the risk is low.
The following tests are vital to truly assess one’s disease risk. The first three tests measure factors that can cause injury to the lining of the blood vessels which will promote the development of atherosclerosis. These are hemoglobin A1C (HgA1C), C - reactive protein (CRP), and homocysteine.
HgA1C is a three month average of blood sugar. This indicates how well the blood sugar has been managed over the previous three months. This is much more informative than the fasting blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar can irritate or injury the linings of the blood vessels
CRP is a measure of inflammation in the body. Things like infection, injury, autoimmunity, etc. can all lead to inflammation and if it becomes chronic, that can also injury the arteries.
Homocysteine is a break down product of protein digestion. It must be cleared from the body in a timely manner. If it builds up in the blood in excessive amounts, this can lead to damage to the arterial linings and lead to vascular disease.
The last two tests are rarely done but are critically important and they are lipoprotein a (Lp a) and apolipoprotein B (Apo B).
Lip a is a carrier molecule that can carry cholesterol into the space between the inner and outer walls of the arteries. If Lp a is elevated it can increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease by inducing inflammation, creating atherosclerotic plaques, calcification in the arteries, and thrombosis.
Apo B is measures the sum of the particles in the blood that can penetrate the arterial walls and lead to atherosclerosis. Some authorities are stating that Apo B is a more accurate measure of vascular disease risk than just looking at total and LDL cholesterol.
50 to 75% of patients who have heart attacks and strokes have normal blood cholesterol levels. Also, many people who have perished were already on cholesterol lowering medication. It is high time to look at the bigger picture and other tests in order to bring down the number of deaths caused by vascular disease. I recommend working with a Naturopathic Physician who can design a program incorporating nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle changes to reduce your risk or to improve your management and treatment of vascular disease.