Heart problems?

Answer the following questions to see if you are likely to develop heart problems.

• Are you a woman over 55?
• Are you a man over 45?
• Do you smoke?
• Are you of Maori or Pacific Island descent?
• Are you overweight?
• Do you have high blood pressure?
• Do you have high cholesterol?
• Do you have a family history of heart disease?
• Do you have diabetes?
• Do you have angina?
• Have you ever had a heart attack, stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA)?

Did you say yes? The more times you answered yes, the greater your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

If you said yes to at least one of the above questions, you should ask your GP for a risk assessment, which involves some basic checks and can calculate your chance of developing heart disease.

If you answered yes to questions nine to 11 you are in a high-risk category and should already be seeing your doctor regularly.