Heart Disease Risk Assessment Program now available at the Duluth Clinic

If the old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” still holds true today, then Ben Franklin would be pleased with the Women’s Heart Disease Risk Assessment Program at the Duluth Clinic — International Falls.
Designed for women, but also open to men, it is an affordable and less complicated program for testing and consultation on heart risk and health prevention.
Heart disease and stroke are the number one and number three killers of women. Kathi Henrickson has a master of science and nursing, is a nurse practitioner and serves as coordinator of the assessment program.
Henrickson said women are not statistically more prone to heart disease than men, yet it has killed more women than men in the last decade. She attributes this disparity to awareness and the difference in gender symptoms that makes it difficult to detect heart disease at earlier stages in women.
“Women just weren’t tested as much as men because, generally, women’s heart disease doesn’t show up until later in life,” she said. “…We are trying to catch that and close that gap so that women get treated sooner.”
The assessment was designed to consolidate total liquid profile testing, consultation and health education, which had previously required separate appointments and referrals. Having one assessment for a $45 fee makes it practical for insured and underinsured people to come in to learn and understand their present health status and work to maintain a heart healthy lifestyle.
The assessment helps to identify individual risk factors. The screening includes a blood pressure test, blood sugar test, body mass index, personal and family history review, fasting cholesterol profile and a stress management evaluation.
“Prevention is the number one thing,” said Henrickson, who feels that all too often people do not know their own risk factors.
“Maybe they don’t come in for physicals or they just don’t get sick, so they don’t come in,” she said. “So this is just another tool to try to get people screened so that we can do preventative before you come in and you’re already having trouble, or you are coming in with your first heart attack.”
American Heart Association prevention materials recommend learning your heart disease risk factors by age 20. Prevention programs include lifestyle change to impact the controllable risk factors, and also treating the uncontrollable risk factors of environment, heredity, age and gender.
“I had one person come in and she said, ‘gee I guess I didn’t realize that I do have a higher risk because of certain factors’,” said Henrickson. “The last time I saw her she had made some changes and was feeling really good. I think that she had already lost four or five pounds.
“Sometimes seeing it in black and white, and writing it down and coming up with a plan is more helpful for people,” she added.
The assessment is compiled into a report where individual risk information reveals a low, medium or high risk level to each test and with overall risk. Henrickson explains the meaning of the data in a consultation before moving ahead with a plan.
It may seem common knowledge that smoking, alcohol, depression, stress management, exercise, personal and family medical history can impact blood pressure. However, perhaps fewer realize that dangerously high blood pressure at pre-hypertension and hypertension levels can greatly increase the chances of damage to arteries and veins, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Nutrition and exercise goals will make more sense when the assessment includes health education about total cholesterol and how “good” HDL cholesterol acts to remove the “bad” LDL cholesterol to help prevent it from blocking up blood vessels.
Triglycerides make up most fatty tissues and when high levels are present in the blood stream in combination with low HDL levels, it creates a high risk factor for heart disease. The program also teaches the importance of understanding how fasting glucose levels, body mass index, waist circumference and blood sugar levels will impact pre-diabetes, diabetes and the cardiovascular system.
The tests and questionnaires measure risk and can also reveal an existing metabolic syndrome, which is a term used to describe the presence of a group of risk factors that greatly increase the chance of developing cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Understanding and acting on pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome factors are essential in diabetes prevention and heart disease.
“Diabetes is under diagnosed and millions of people are not aware that they have the disease,” she said. “We are trying to prevent people from developing diabetes, because they will then have a higher incidence of developing heart disease.”
The test data is tallied into a Framingham Heart Study Prediction Score to determine the risk level for a cardiac event within the next ten years. It is named for a Massachusetts study that now serves as a risk indicator in most population groups until a medical examination can make a diagnosis.
The assessment results will determine a course of action to make lifestyle changes and follow up assessments can determine if the modifications have impacted the controllable risk factors. If there is not a change in data when an effort was made according to the plan, then Henrickson notes that this condition may reveal an uncontrollable factor.
“We would definitely notice if there was some concern and we might refer you to the heart program or back to your primary care provider with recommendation for medication,” she said.
The assessment program comes at a time of high risk for cardiovascular disease with a more sedentary generation. Henrickson said the combination of diet, stress, computer time, and lack of physical activity in youth and adults, brings obesity and with it the risk of onset diabetes and heart disease.
“People are going to more fast foods because its easier,” she said. “Both parents are working and it is easier to do prepackaged foods or processed foods than to make a meal from scratch.”
No referral is needed to enroll in the program. Call 283-9431 or 877-201-3461 to make an appointment.