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Knes260 Assignment 1

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KNES260 Paper Assignment #1- The 10 Year Risk for Cardiovascular Disease
By: Kristine Albanes

Using the Framingham risk equation I was able to calculate the ten year risk of developing heart disease for myself, an older relative (my mother), and a case study whom we will call Danny. I first inserted my data into the equation (SBP of 115, DBP of 70, non-smoker, total cholesterol of 160, HDL-cholesterol of 50, age of 20, and no diabetes) and with that I calculated my ten year risk of 0.036%, approximately 0.04%. Next, I followed the same steps with my mother’s information (SBP of 118, DBP of 75, non-smoker, total cholesterol of 185, HDL-cholesterol of 55, age of 59, and no diabetes) and the result showed her 10 year risk was 7.3689%, approximately …show more content…

The Framingham study and others that followed showed us that HDL-cholesterol is an independent cardiovascular risk factor and that the increase of HDL-cholesterol of only 10 mg/dL leads to a risk reduction of 2-3% (PubMed.gov, Nov. 2012). Higher levels of HDL cholesterol result in a risk of cardiovascular disease closer to the default risk. Cardiovascular disease risk increases then plateaus with greater ratios between total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. Thus, higher levels of HDL cholesterol proportionate to levels of total cholesterol relate to lower cardiovascular disease risk (Lecture #3). Having a HDL-cholesterol of 60 mg/dL and above is the best place for a person to be. A bit lower, but considered a good HDL-cholesterol level standing is 40-49 mg/dL for men and 50-59 mg/dL for women. All three of us, me, my mother, and the case study Danny are in good standing regarding HDL-cholesterol levels, my mother with 55 mg/dL, me with 50 mg/dL, and Danny with 40 …show more content…

However, because Danny does have diabetes, his health is in a poorer state and his risk for developing cardiovascular disease is increased. Diabetes is defined as having a fasting plasma glucose value of 7.0 mmol/l (126 mg/dl) or higher. Every year, diabetes claims many lives; for example, in 2008, diabetes was responsible for 1.3 million deaths all across the world (World Heart Federation, N.p., n.d). When looking at cardiovascular disease with diabetes, data shows that of all diabetics who die, 60% of them die as a result of cardiovascular disease (World Heart Federation, N.p., n.d). Cardiovascular risk increases with raised glucose values. The risk of cardiovascular events is from two to three times higher in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and the risk is disproportionately higher in women (World Heart Federation, N.p., n.d). From this we can infer that if my mother or I did have diabetes, it would be likely that that would increase our risk to a greater degree compared to Danny’s risk, because he is a male. Cardiovascular risk increases with raised glucose values. In addition, within certain age groups, people with diabetes have a two-fold increase in the risk of stroke. Patients with diabetes also have a poorer prognosis after cardiovascular events compared to people without diabetes. Primary care access to measurement of blood glucose and cardiovascular risk assessment as well as

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